Adjustments
by Agent-G
Summary: Can Wanda, Piotr, Gambit and X23 fit in, in their new home with the XMen? Takes place right after Family Affairs and 6th in the AGU series.[COMPLETE]
1. Rommies

** DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN X-MEN: EVOLUTION OR ANYTHING FROM MARVEL, ANY OCs ARE MINE.  
  
IMPORTANT: A/N: FOR THOSE NEW PEOPLE THIS IS THE 6TH IN MY AGU SERIES AND TAKES PLACE RIGHT AFTER FAMILY AFFAIRS.**

* * *

******  
ADJUSTMENTS  
  
CHAPTER 1: ROOMIES**  
  
X23 looked around the room she was supposed to be sharing with someone. It was the only spare room left at the moment and she didn't know who she would be sharing with either. She laid down on the bed and was surprised at the comfort of it.  
  
She had never been on a bed before and she liked it. She stretched out and put her hands behind her head. It was strange to be in a room and just be there. It was a lot more comfortable then that white room Hydra had put her in her entire life and she found herself actually relaxing a little for the first time since...well...ever.  
  
It was kind of short lived at the door opened. 'Great I wonder who they paired me up with.' She thought, but she was pleasantly surprised by who she saw.  
  
"Hey Twenty-three looks like ah got ya for a roommate." Paige said smiling carrying in one of her bags that they had taken out of the Velocity and had put into storage until they had got her back.  
  
X23 smiled. 'Maybe this won't be so bad after all.'**  
****  
DOWNSTAIRS**  
  
Rogue had just finished her visit with Vincent, she knew how badly he hated that kind of room, and with all the time she had spent there she could relate, now however Hank had told her the Professor had wanted to see her for something. She was walking there when she bumped into the one person she had been trying to avoid.  
  
"Hello chere." Remy said with a grin on his face. She felt the same feelings whenever she was around him, ever since their first meeting where he had nearly blown off her hand she had felt this...attraction to him. Now however she wished she didn't.  
  
"Out of mah way swamp rat ah got somewhere I need ta beh." She said trying to force anger into her voice which wasn't that surprising since he could make her feel that just as well as the other feelings.  
  
He moved aside grinning the entire time and bowed and gestured with his arms to the hallway. "But of course chere, ladies first."  
  
She ignored him and walked on, feeling both excited that he was obviously interested in her yet felt like crap because she was already involved with a great guy and was attracted to another guy, that's not to say she wasn't attracted to Vincent too, but she was just so confused she didn't know what to think.  
  
She opened the door to the Professor's study and was surprised to see Wanda in there too. "Please Rouge come in and sit down." She did so, but she had an uneasy feeling like she wasn't going to like what was going to happen.  
  
"As you know we've run out of spare rooms and we need to double people up again until we can expand the mansion to accommodate everyone." Xavier said to her. Now Rogue really didn't like what was going on she only hoped that he wasn't going to do what she thought. "And I want you to share your room with Wanda here until she gets her own room."**  
  
**"_WHAT_?" Both girls were on their feet. "I'm not sharing a room with her!" Both of them said at once pointing at each other.  
  
Xavier gave the girls a stern look. "Look I know this is not what either of you want, but you both have to understand that there is little other choice." Both goth girls looked at the Professor a little surprised at his tone. "Now I know this going to be difficult but Rogue you were once a member of the Brotherhood before you came to use and you know exactly what Wanda is and will be going through, that is my reason for putting her with you."  
  
He turned to Wanda. "Wanda you should start to trust us here and Rogue can help you adjust to your new life here if you let her."  
  
Both girls looked at each other but knew that they couldn't change the Professor's mind. "Fahne. Come on ah'll show ya where you'll be stayin'." Rogue said through nearly gritted teeth. Wanda didn't looked pleased but she followed anyway.**  
  
****UPSTAIRS**  
  
Piotr was being led by Logan through the halls. After the battle with Magneto he had grabbed whatever he had from apartment he had been at watching over Graydon Creed. It wasn't much but then again working with Magneto didn't exactly leave you with a social life, or a life of any kind.  
  
Logan opened a door and Piotr looked around the room was already lived in he could see. "This is Vincent's room, but since he's in the infirmary over night for observation so that Hank can see that his heart is fine you'll stay here. You can use his bed for now until we get your own."  
  
Piotr nodded his thanks and Logan left. Piotr placed his travel bags on the floor and looked around the room of the person he would be sharing with. He saw several trophies that were a mix of science fair and martial art tournaments. He also saw pictures near them.  
  
One was of a priest with three children. One was a blond girl, the other a younger boy with brown hair and another with dark hair. As he looked closer he could see light blue eyes and assumed that was Vincent. He also saw a picture that seemed to be focused on a girl with long dark hair. He hadn't seen her around and wondered where she was since he saw the mansion in the background and it looked resent too.  
  
The last he saw was a couple of Vincent with the others and another one with just him and Rogue in it. He saw that she was wearing clothing that covered her entire skin and black gloves and he assumed this was before she could control her powers.  
  
He also noticed something else. On a wall there was a Japanese sword on a rack drilled into the wall. He looked at it and it seemed to him to be in good shape, he decided to leave it alone since he didn't want to pry into his roommate's things. He did notice a small TV in the corner with one of those game systems connected to it but he didn't feel like watching anything.  
  
He found some spare space in a dresser and started to unpack.  
  
Illyana looked around the room she would share. It already had two beds and a few posters of a few bands up. She placed herself down on the bed that looked like no one had slept in, since the other had a stuffed bear on it.  
  
"Hey you're Illyana right?" She turned and saw a blue haired girl that was about a year older then her.  
  
"Y-y-yes, and you are?" She was nervous but this girl only smiled kindly at her.  
  
"Well I'm Gale Hunter nice to meet you." Gale said and reached out for a hand shake and was glad when Illyana took it. "There's no need to be nervous you know we're all friends here."  
  
"Who-who says I'm nervous?" She said.  
  
Gale smirked. "Well first off the stuttering and secondly I'm an Empath so I can feel the nervousness coming right off of you." Illyana blushed a little. Gale sat down next to the blond Russian girl. "Don't worry when I first came here I was nervous too, but I grew to like it even though it hasn't been all that long." She let out a small laugh to lighten to mood.  
  
"Thanks, so where did you come from?" Illyana asked.  
  
"From Canada like Logan and Vincent only from I'm Manitoba." She said.  
  
"So you're not an American?" Illyana asked surprised.  
  
"Nope and I'm proud to be Canadian." She said proudly. "So what's Russia like?"  
  
Alex was shown the room he was going to be sharing with. He opened the door and saw his roommate already in the room. It was Roberto. "Hey how's is going?"  
  
Alex smiled. "Not bad." Alex looked around the room. "Man this place has some great rooms. I mean this is three times the size of my old one."  
  
"Ya I know man, I just wish I could have had room for my surf board if Bayville had some decent waves." Roberto said to him.  
  
Alex got a huge smile. "Dude you surf?"  
  
"I'm from Rio de Janeiro, of course I know how to surf." Roberto said to him.  
  
"You know I think you and me will get along just fine." Alex said to the Brazilian boy.

* * *

******NEXT UP CHAPTER 2: FIRST DAY TROUBLES**


	2. First day troubles

Aaron: Man haven't heard from you in a while. As for who gets along with who, you'll just have to see, and as for the love triangle I got going, I knew I would have to deal with the Rouge/Remy thing sooner or later.  
  
Ldypebsaby: Well don't worry about Creed I will get to that. As for Paige/Jamie & Kitty/Piotr you'll just have to wait and see. As for Illyana, well things might go as you expected for her.  
  
Witch-Uk: Nice to hear from you but I hope you've read the other stories first since this is the 6th in a series, cause if you didn't you'll lose out on a lot of backstory.  
  
Supergirlhv: Well you'll have to see if Rogue and Wanda can get alone especially if her mind is on two guys.  
  
The Uncanny R-Man: Unfortunately the Hellions might not make an appearance just yet, I haven't decided on that. A little later on yes I want to get all the new guys into the flow of things first before I add any more people, I got a lot as it is.  
  
DemonRogue13: Thanks, it will only get better. (I hope)  
  
Red Witch: Glad you do, and I hope you enjoy it.  
  
BlackRoseApocalyps: Yay you're back! Or at least you got some spare time between exams.  
  
fire inu: Yes, yes the hellions are going to cause trouble later on. (But not in this fic sorry)

* * *

**  
ADJUSTMENTS  
  
CHAPTER 2: FIRST DAY TROUBLES**  
  
The next day things were getting back to normal as they ever get around the Institute. Vincent however had spent the last few hours waiting for Hank to come in and tell him he was fine.  
  
It was times like this he hated the fact he usually only needed six hours of sleep. For the past few hours he tried to meditate but it only worked for about an hour. Finally to his relief Hank walked in, he must have just gotten up since all his fur was slightly ruffled.  
  
He walked over to the hear monitor and looked through the date compiled through the night. "So what's the verdict?" Vincent said hopefully.  
  
"Hmm, I don't like this right here. It seemed to have happened about two in the morning." Hank said looking at the results of his heart rate.  
  
"Oh that." Vincent said quietly and his good mode had faded. "I...had a nightmare."  
  
Hank looked at the data and from it, he knew it must have been a major one. "Well that explains that, and it seems Gale did great work you're heart is in perfect working order so you can leave." He noticed a strong breeze after that and the monitor had gone flat lined.  
  
When he jerked his head to look at Vincent he was gone. He smiled to himself. "I guess I should have expected that."  
  
Upstairs everyone was getting up. Well mostly. Wanda was actually sleeping quite until an annoying and loud buzzing sound woke her up. It took her a moment to remember where she was while looking at the unfamiliar room, and then it all came rushing back to her.  
  
She looked over at the digital alarm clock which was the source of the noise. "Rogue, turn that damn thing off before I hex it!" She said to her roommate. She still couldn't believe it, back at the Brotherhood she had her own room and she liked it, even thought her old room was a dump compared to this it was still her room.  
  
Wanda turned over putting a pillow on her head thinking it would block out some of the noise, until the buzzing was cut of by a smashing sound. "Ah damn it!" She heard Rogue yell out. When she looked over she saw Rogue glaring at what used to be her alarm, now it was a pile of crushed junk.  
  
"Well I guess it's time to get up any way." Wanda mumbled she got dressed in the only clothing she still had from the Brotherhood place burning down. She sure as hell wasn't going to ask Rogue for any hand me downs, she had her pride.  
  
She made it down there with Rogue not far behind, who was still angry about the clock thing. When she got down she made her way to the dinning room where the large table had plenty of food on it. It was also crowded too.  
  
She grabbed what she could and took a seat. She looked around and it struck her as so different from her old life. She could see Kurt and Amanda sitting together eating playfully with each other. Tabitha and Sam were nearly as bad and Sam's little sister was giggling the entire time at them.  
  
She could see Remy across the table and he seemed to be given Rogue certain looks. She tried her best to avoid them. Then she heard some clapping and a few cheers and she turned to see Vincent enter the room. He was surprised by the show of support and she could see he was a little embarrassed.  
  
"So did Mr. McCoy give you a clean bill of health or did you bust out of the medical ward?" Gale said. She was joking but everyone could hear the threat at the end if he had left prematurely.  
  
"Clean bill of health." He said and tapped his heart. "You do good work."  
  
Rogue smiled at that and everyone noticed her relief. "Ah'm glad you're all right." She said to him. He bent down and kissed her on the cheek.  
  
"I know, and I promise I'll try not to scare you like that again." He said silently to her, and she knew he meant it.  
  
Wanda also noticed Remy raising an eyebrow at how close those two seemed. Wanda had known from Lance who was told from Kitty that those two had been dating for over two months now. She guessed this was the first he heard of it.  
  
Vincent looked to Ororo. "Sorry I couldn't help out today." He said sheepishly.  
  
Ororo smiled and waved it off. "It is alright besides Clarice had helped me this morning."  
  
Blink looked up and beamed with some pride. "Yeah and I learn a lot from her, it was kind of fun, not as fun as gardening but it was nice." Ororo smiled who shared the sentiments with the younger girl. Even thought she was Blink's legal guardian she felt like over the past couple of weeks that they had formed almost a mother-daughter bond and she enjoyed it.  
  
"Now that everyone is here I have a few things to say." Xavier said over the noise. It soon quieted down and everyone had their ears open to him. "With everyone here and who know how many more students we will get the adults and I have decided to expand the mansion."  
  
There were a few groans from those that were there the last time that had happened. "You mean we got to put up with that again?" Ray said to him.  
  
"Unfortunately yes, but for some of you after the preliminary work is done I felt it better if we finished the inside yourselves because with the current level of mistrust humans tend to have of us, it was the only way I could convince the local construction company to build the needed expansions."  
  
Everyone was silent after that. "So does this mean we'll get our own rooms?" Bobby asked. "And if so how long will it take?"  
  
Xavier smirked at his enthusiasm "That all depends if you want them, but you can if you do and we will still have room to spare, as for how long. The construction should be done at the end of the month just a week before the new school season."  
  
"There are a few other details also." Xavier looked around the table. "X23, Illyana, Piotr and Wanda since you al will be attending Bayville high we need to teat you out for now to see if any of you need to have some tutoring before you go."  
  
There were a few groans. Then Wanda spoke up. "Hey how come Remy doesn't have to do that?" She demanded.  
  
"Remy is a little old then most high schoolers [AN he's 21 in the fic] so he will be going for a GED instead." Xavier said to her, he just smiled at her and Wanda glared at him. "Also you and the others need supplies such as clothing since you don't have any of your own."  
  
Kitty and Jubilee shot up immediately. "You mean a shopping trip right?" Both girls said excitedly at once, while the others rolled their eyes at the display by the two major Mallrats of the Institute.  
  
"Why do I need to?" X23 said. "I got my clothing, do I really need more then that?"  
  
"Well you like only have one outfit, you totally need more then just that, I mean what if it gets ruined?" Kitty said to the young clone.  
  
"Ah need ta go too and pick up a new clock there." Rogue told him.  
  
"Why what happened to yours?" Jean asked her. Rogue looked a little embarrassed by it while Wanda let out a small snort of laughter.  
  
Vincent saw this and had a guess. "You smashed the clock didn't you?"  
  
Rogue with a surprised look on her face turned to him. "How did ya know that?"  
  
Vincent blushes a little and scratches the back of his head slightly. "Well, I uh...kind of...well...I smashed at least eight different clocks...and blasted one."  
  
There are a few chuckles at this revelation. "Blasted one?" Rogue asked.  
  
"Ya, you see I thought if I placed it away from my bead I wouldn't smash it, but then one time I sort of shot an energy beam at it, that is after I hit the lamp next to it." He says still slightly embarrassed from the event. He sure had a hell of a time explaining that one to Father Michaels.  
  
"Well after breakfast all those that _NEED_ to go to the mall." Ororo said eyeing Kitty and Jubilee specifically. "Should meet me out front after breakfast."  
  
"But we can help." Jubilee said. "I mean X23 has never gone shopping before, and I bet Illyana hasn't either."  
  
"Yeah you could like use all the help you can get." Kitty chimed in. It took five minutes but the two of them actually managed to wear Ororo down, but they were there only to help, not to window shop for themselves.

* * *

**TWO HOURS LATER**  
  
Several of the students were in the Rec. Room. Jamie and Paige were playing a video game while Amara and Tabitha were playing against Sam and Ray in pool. It was going well when Kitty and Jubilee walked in and each crashed down on a chair.  
  
Normally a trip to the mall left those two happy for a few hours, this was something new and everyone took notice. "What happened to you two?" Ray said looking at them.  
  
"Do you have _ANY_ idea how impossible X23 was while shopping?" Jubilee stated wearily.  
  
"That bad?" Amara asked.  
  
"Let me put it to you this way, that girl really takes after Logan in every way." Kitty muttered. The others got a picture of Logan and when he had to chaperone the kids there, then they pictured X23 doing that.  
  
"You poor, poor girls." Tabitha said seriously to them.  
  
"At least Illyana liked it." Jubilee said. "Although Wanda only went to the same shops as Rogue does."  
  
"At least Piotr wasn't bad either." Kitty said with a ghost of a smile on her face. "He was the perfect gentleman, and carried all the bags for us, plus he was like all embarrassed at that one point where he had to wait outside while he helped the girls get some...uh...undergarments."  
  
Jubilee let out a laugh. "You should have seen his face, it went all pale then several shades of red, when he walked in with us and realized where we were going, he stormed out of there and said he would meet us outside."  
  
"Yeah it was so like cute when he was looking like that." Kitty said with a laugh of her own.  
  
The others shook their heads at it all and laughed themselves with the image of the big Russian boy and what he went through.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 3: NEW FRIENDSHIPS PART1**


	3. New Friendships part 1

EvilWhiteRaven: What would be the fun in telling you who Rogue chooses. On the one hand all the Romy fans will either hate me or all the Vouge (Vincent/Rogue, someone suggested this for the name of it) will be pissed at me either way.  
  
Ldypebsaby: Damn lots of questions I'll answer as many as I can. Yes X23 will get a name, and yes she will still room with her, Illyana will come later, the peace will last not as long as they like, and yes some people will not like more mutants going there, I don't see Wanda & Remy together, and I have someone who is perfect for that guy, but that's another fic. Look up Hellions and you'll see.  
  
jadestar123: Thanks, and you bet I will  
  
Witch-Uk: That's good to know I hate it when people ask me what's going on without reading the other stories first.  
  
The Uncanny R-Man: It does doesn't it. And as for Remy I got plans for him.  
  
DemonRogue13: Yeah well he survived at least.  
  
Red Witch: Another vacation? Didn't you just get back from Disney World? Well I should have a few things done by the time you get back.  
  
BlackRoseApocalyps: Sorry to hear that you got to take those classes again, and about the wisdom teeth, I know that isn't fun.

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS  
  
CHAPTER 3: NEW FRIENDSHIPS PART1**  
  
It was a nice and warm summer's day. Most of the students were gathering around the pool to cool off. Some of the kids were already playing in the pool. Wanda with nothing better to do decided to start getting a little tan.  
  
She looked around it was so different here. Everyone was together and happy, they had fun besides wrecking the place, leaving garbage everywhere or just laid around all day doing nothing.  
  
She was looking at the others having fun and she thought about all that she missed being locked up all those years, she wondered what exactly she had missed. She saw the couples together and everything. She was a little freaked when she saw Vincent's scares. She never knew about those, she guessed Kitty had left those out for obvious reasons.  
  
She looked over and saw Kitty looked at the water slightly sad and that other girl Dani was next to her talking.  
  
"Kitty you really should get over Lance, I mean he actually chose Magneto for crying out loud." Dani said to her roommate and friend.  
  
"But if I like hadn't broken up with him, maybe he would be here." She said sadly.  
  
"Kitty you are not responsible for Lance's actions. He made his own choice, you can't blame yourself for it." Dani said to her placing a hand on her shoulder.  
  
"I guess." She sighed. "Look I'll be inside, I like just feel like being alone." Kitty got up and Dani watched sadly as she walked off. Kitty was looking at the ground and didn't notice until she ran right into Piotr.  
  
"OH! Like I am so sorry." She said out of reflex.  
  
Piotr smiled kindly at her. "It is alright." Kitty however was staring at his physique. She was definitely in really good shape. "Are you alright?" He asked with a slightly confused expression.  
  
"Huh? Oh yeah sorry, I, uh, I got to go." Kitty said quickly and walked off blushing. Piotr was just left there slightly confused.  
  
Paige was outside the door to the backyard. "Come on already."  
  
"No." X23 said sharply from inside.  
  
"Jeez ya think someone like you wouldn' be afraid of comin' outside." She said to her.  
  
"I just don't see why it has to have so little covering." She said angrily to her.  
  
"Because it's a bathin' suit it's supposed to be like that, ah mean there are other ones with less coverin' then that." Paige said to her.  
  
"You're kidding?"  
  
"No, now get out here already." Paige said losing her patience with her friend. X23 slowly came out wearing an all black two-piece. She walked slowly to the pool feeling slightly uncomfortable. Then Roberto got it into his head to whistle at her.  
  
She turned to him fast and flashed her claws at him and growled. He let out a small 'eep' before he stumbled back into the pool. Everyone who saw it couldn't help but laugh.  
  
Illyana was with Blink, Amara and Tabitha talking. "It is so great here!" Illyana said basking in the sun. It had been over a whole year locked in that room by Magneto and she was enjoying her freedom for everything it was worth.  
  
"Yeah I know what you mean." Blink said to her. "I think my life actually is a lot better here, well besides the occasional battle but it's worth it."  
  
"Are you nuts, the action is one of the reasons I love it here!" Tabitha exclaimed, Amara just shook her head at her friend.  
  
"Only you would like that part." Amara said to Tabitha.  
  
Then an idea popped into her head. "You know girls, we never had a proper welcome to Clarice and the other girls, what say before all the construction all the girls get together for the night?" Tabitha said to them.  
  
"You mean like a sleep over?" Blink said getting excited about it, she had never had one before.  
  
"Technically we all live at the same place, but why not grab the living room or something for the night, it's big enough for all of us." Tabitha said getting really excited now about the idea.  
  
"That sounds great I have never had one before." Illyana said.  
  
"Then it's settled." Tabitha said to them.  
  
"Hey you think we should invite Pam and Amy too?" Amara said. "I mean it would be nice to have them over too."  
  
Tabitha smiled. She liked Pam because she was a lot like herself. "Now there's an idea."  
  
"Well why not ask them, cause here they are." Blink said pointing to the two girl and Joseph as well.  
  
Rahne was sitting with Jubilee and she didn't notice that a certain someone was walking up behind her. "Hey Rahne." Joseph said.  
  
Rahne turned quickly and her face lit up. "Joseph what are ye doin' here?"  
  
Joseph looked a little confused. "I was called over alone with my sister and Pam."  
  
"Well I got to go and...uh...talk to Bobby, about...something." Jubilee said quickly and went off in the direction of Bobby. Rahne however gave the girl a suspicious look before turning back to Joseph. Over the past couple of weeks she really liked being around him.  
  
He was kind, sweet and caring, and cute too. He was nice and all and lately she was wondering if she asked him out if he would say yes, but she didn't want to ruin it all, besides she wasn't sure if he thought of her that way.  
  
Pam and Amy made their way to several of the students' Pam went right up to Ray and gave him a hello kiss. Amy smiled at this. In all the years she had known her Pam had never lasted this long with a boy. Usually she tired of them and moved on, but she hadn't, she didn't even look at another boy and talked only about him.  
  
If she didn't know any better she swore her best friend was falling in love with him. She was happy for her. She saw several of the new students around too. She saw Gale with her blue hair and a bathing suit with a matching color talking to Piotr who were slowly making their way to them.  
  
Piotr was a tall and kind looking boy. Tabitha who had came over looked at what Amy was looking at and smiled. "Pretty good looking huh?" Tabitha said to her looking at Piotr.  
  
"Yes-oh what?" Amy said startled by Tabitha's question and the fact she answered it.  
  
Tabitha smiled at her reaction. "Well I might be tempted to go after him too if I wasn't taken myself." She whispered to Amy.  
  
"Hey guys what's up?" Gale said walking up to them. "Oh Piotr this is Pam and Amy and the boy over there talking to Rahne is Amy's brother Joseph."  
  
Piotr nodded his head to them. "Pleased to meet you, I am Piotr Rasputin."  
  
"Damn man, are all Russian guys as large as you?" Pam said in good humor, Piotr blushed slightly at the comment. They talked for a while and Amy found herself with Gale at one point.  
  
"So you want to be a doctor one day?" Amy said very interested in that.  
  
Gale nodded. "Yeah, that or a nurse. I just always wanted to help people like my dad does back home eh. Besides it would go well with my codename of Nightingale as well." She said smiling.  
  
"Really? That's great, I wanted to become a social worker for the same reasons." Amy said. "Well, minus the codename thing." She said shrugging slightly. Gale laughed at the last part and Amy couldn't help but smile.  
  
Wanda was looking about the place and was fighting the urge to have fun or relax. "Hey Wanda." She turned to see Vincent and Rogue standing next to her. "Why don't you try out the pool?" Vincent offered her smiling kindly. Now Vincent didn't have much history with her, in fact they only met briefly so when the Professor asked him to try and help her adjust he said he would do his best.  
  
"I don't think so." Wanda said darkly without looking at them.  
  
"Why not? Can't ya swim?" Rogue asked her, mainly she was just joking but Wanda grew slightly stiff at it.  
  
"You can't can you." Vincent said seeing the way she reacted, then it hit him. She was in an asylum for most of her life, of course she wouldn't have learned while in there. Wanda glared at the two of them, but mostly at Rogue.  
  
"Look ah'm sorry ah didn't mean anything by it." Rogue said trying to apologies.  
  
"Save it!" Wanda shouted at her.  
  
"Fahne! Ah was just tryin' ta be nice!" Rogue said back angrily.  
  
"Jeez you think you two would get alone so well with all that you got in common." Vincent said mostly to himself but both girls had heard it.  
  
"What's _THAT_ supposed to mean?" They both demanded.  
  
Vincent looked nervously at both of the angry Goth girls. "Well...don't get mad at me but you do." He saw the looks he was getting. "You do, you've both are Goths, have anger issues, have been betrayed by your family, have issues with your so called parents, because of said parents you've both been used and had your minds messed with by telepaths, need I go on?"  
  
Both girls however didn't want to admit he was right. Rogue walked off, and Wanda got up and left too in the opposite direction. Vincent just stood there and sighed. "So much for that."  
  
Scott and Jean had watched from not too far away. "Well it was a good try." Scott said to Jean. She nodded in agreement.  
  
"I just hope they both calm down, especially Rogue." Jean said looking at him in sympathy.  
  
"Yeah or it's dog house time for him." Scott said. He remembered the few times he got in that kind of trouble with Jean it wasn't fun.

* * *

**  
NEXT UP CHAPTER 4: NEW FRIENDSHIPS PART2**  
  
Wanda meets an unlikely new friend. 


	4. New Friendships part 2

Ldypebsaby: Yes to most of those questions, as for the Vince/Rogue/Remy triangle it will go on through the story until she makes up her mind on who she wants.  
  
yae yang: I think you'll be surprised at who it turns out to be. Also I won't end the Remy/Rogue thing until the a few chapters from now, I want to run with it a little.  
  
Witch-Uk: Wouldn't think of stopping.  
  
The Uncanny R-Man: Oh trust me no one will see this coming, and everyone will be surprised by it.  
  
DemonRogue13: Yeah I know, that's why I just had to those two together.  
  
BlackRoseApocalyps:  
  
Supergirlhv: Thanks and I think you'll be surprised by who makes a guest apperance.

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS  
  
CHAPTER 4: NEW FRIENDSHIPS PART2**  
  
Rogue was storming through the mansion and ended up in the kitchen. 'How could he say that Wanda and me are anything alike?' She thought to herself. She didn't really like Wanda that much and the fact that her boyfriend thought they were so alike was as insane as Wanda.  
  
'Okay just because we both were on the wrong side, had been messed with by telepaths and our parents and...damn it!' She went through the entire list over and over again in her head and she couldn't help but admit he had a point.  
  
She was still slightly mad that what he said was right, but she didn't want to admit it. She figured she let herself cool down slightly then she figured and go and tell Vince he's off the hook. She was sitting at the kitchen table when she got interrupted.  
  
"Hello chere." A familiar accented voice said behind her. Her heart started to thump faster again and she really withed it would stop. Gambit sat down next to her smiling and giving her a look that usually she only saw from Vincent.  
  
"So how are doing?" He said to her.  
  
She felt her cheeks flush slightly. "F-fahne." She tried to keep her voice smooth and cold but couldn't. He leaned in closer and with his right hand slowly caressed her cheek.  
  
"Gambit had been wantin' to do d'at for a long time." He said to her. Suddenly Kurt 'bamfed' in near the fridge. It was sudden and startled the two of them.  
  
Kurt turned to see them. "Oh sorry, I vas just getting a few sodas. You two want one?"  
  
"Ah got ta go." Rogue said quickly and ran out of the room. Gambit watched her leave then turned to look at a confused Kurt. He merely shrugged.  
  
"Women, who can figure d'em out?" He said to him. Kurt nodded slightly and teleported out after he grabbed the sodas.  
**  
ELSEWARE**  
  
Wanda had changed into her normal red top but with a black skirt since it was so hot out. She walked out of the grounds and into the Bayville area not really caring where she was going.  
  
How dare that guy think she and Rogue were alike. PLEASE! No one could understand what she had gone through or relate to her. So they were both Goths, so what a lot of kids were.  
  
She was still angry and didn't know that after awhile he had gone down an alley. So also didn't notice several men there following her until it was too late. One moment she was walking alone the next she had someone grab her hands from behind her and force her face first into one of the building walls.  
  
She tried to struggle free but the guy who had her was too strong and she couldn't get her hands free enough to hex him either. "Now here's what's going to happen. You're going to give us all the cash you got or else."  
  
Wanda couldn't help but laugh. "To bad for you jerks, I got nothing on me."  
  
"Well that's a same, now we got to think of something else." One of them said.  
  
"Hey I know that girl! She's one of them mutie freaks!" Another said.  
  
The one holding her spoke up next. "Well, maybe we should do the world a favor and get rid of it." She heard the sound of a one of those switch blade knifes and she got a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. She hadn't been this afraid since her time at the asylum.  
  
Just when she thought it was over something no one had expected happened. "You know you just meet the nicest people in Bayville." An unfamiliar voice said to them. The next thing Wanda knew the guy holding her was pulled off and she heard some fighting sounds.  
  
She turned around and was surprised to see the man who was holding her sticking to a wall from what looked like...webbing?  
  
She turned to the sound of fighting and saw none other then New York's own Spider-Man fighting off the thugs. He was fast, agile and by then had already downed two of them and only one was left.  
  
"Dodge this spider freak!" The last one screamed and pulled a small revolver. Wanda took the opening and hexed the guy into a dumpster. Spider- Man looked surprised at her.  
  
"Uh...nice shot." He said slightly stunned. After he had tied them all up sirens could be heard in the distance. "Looks like our little scuffle got the attention of someone." He looked to Wanda. "You want to get out of here or do you want to talk to the police about this?"  
  
Wanda knew better then to expect help from the police. "No way am I staying here." She said to him.  
  
"Alright them, come on." He said to her. She was hesitant to go with him. "Hey I don't bite, kind of hard with this mask on." HE said to her, she could hear the sirens getting closer and walked over to him.  
  
Now she knew Toad could jump, but Spider-Man made him look like a rank amateur. Not only did he jump to the roof of a three-story building with her in his arms. But also across the street to even a taller building.  
  
When they landed she just had one question to ask him. "Aren't you supposed to live in New York?"  
  
Then he walked over and saw him pick up a case that was left there. "I was on my way to the Institute to deliver this stuff from a doctor friend of mine to Mr. McCoy. They've been working together on something and he didn't think the US postal service was safe enough to deliver it to him, plus he doesn't want to be too far from the lab lately."  
  
Spider-Man knew however that it was because Dr. Connors was afraid if he was too far away from the lab he might start to change again and he would be without a way to stop it.  
  
"So are you from there too? Cause I don't remember seeing you there the last time I visited." He asked her.  
  
Wanda was about to say no out of reflex, but stopped when she remembered her knew situation. "I'm...new there, but I'm not sure for how long?"  
  
Spider-Man tilted his head slightly and she guessed he raised an eyebrow under that mask too. "Oh why's that?"  
  
"It's personal." She snapped at him.  
  
He raised his hands in defense. "Hey I was just trying to help. I mean it's not like I would go and blab it out, I'm kind of the poster boy for secrecy you know." He said to her pointing at the mask. She exhaled.  
  
"It ain't pretty." She warned him. He didn't seem to mind so she started off and once she got going she couldn't seem to stop herself. She talked about it all the asylum, the Brotherhood, and then up to recently.  
  
She told him stuff that she had been keeping locked up inside for she didn't know how long. She just knew it felt good to finally let it out. All her anger, her rage even her pain. At one point when things got too painful she was surprised that he actually put an arm around her.  
  
She continued on until she had nothing left. She felt emotionally drain yet...somehow all the weight she had was a little less heavy.  
  
"I would be laying if I said I could relate but I can't." He said after it was all over. "But I do know that maybe staying with Xavier is a good thing. I've seen the place and he truly wants to help people, just like I think he wants to help you."  
  
"Maybe you should give them a chance, I know it's not easy for you to trust others, and I can see why but...maybe this is your chance for the things that your father took from you, you know a normal life."  
  
Wanda snorted. "I don't exactly live a 'normal' life period."  
  
"Uh, yeah well I guess that whole powers thing does make that hard, and _THAT_ I do understand." Wanda couldn't help but smile a little at that one.  
  
He swung her home after some more talking. It was nice to open up a little and he listened to her every word. She wasn't sure why she did, maybe it was because he didn't judge her, or he was a blank slate with no history with, maybe because he was outside her life and the Institute. Maybe it was because all of the above and because he genuinely seemed to care and yet he was a complete stranger.  
  
They walked up to the door and as he made his way to the lab to drop off whatever it was and then go back to NY she stopped him. "Spider- Man...thanks...you know...for listening."  
  
"No problem." He said kindly to her and he was about to move away when she got this sudden impulse and kissed him on the cheek. He looked stunned and Wanda felt embarrassed that she just did that, and walked off quickly.  
  
Peter however placed a hand on his cheek over his mask. 'Man that was unexpected, pleasant, but unexpected.' He thought as he walked off again. Wanda who was on the stairs couldn't help but one last look at him before she left for her room.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 4: ROGUE'S CHOICE**  
  
Well I give you guys a break and Rogue will decide on what to do next chapter. So I guess I'll soon figure out who among you are rooting for Rogue to choose. 


	5. Rogue's choice

Sparky Genocide: I knew there were a few people who wanted her to choose Remy. No sorry no more Spider-Man in this story he was just a cameo role in this one. The Jameson idea is nice, I'll try that later on. Yeah I thought about the Goths thing but I figured that was obvious to everyone. Unfortunately I don't get any of the Ultimate titles here, but I know what you mean.  
  
celtcath74: Yes I did and it was great!  
  
morring star: You know I was debating having those two go at it, I'll see if I can fit that in or not.  
  
epona04: lol, is that what it takes for people to review? Well if you read the previous stories you shouldn't be surprised by her decision.  
  
yae yang: Angel, Scott and Jean!? What are you talking about? There's no such thing in the show or in my stories, I think your thinking of something else.  
  
The Uncanny R-Man: I'm not sure I actually want to pair Spidey & Wanda I just felt like she needed to come out of her shell a little.  
  
DemonRogue13: Glad I surprised you and that you liked it.  
  
Supergirlhv: Well I figured I would try for the biggest surprise I could get, was I wrong? Maybe it's because Romy's have been done to death, and this is fresh and new?

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS  
  
CHAPTER 4: ROGUE'S CHOICE**  
  
For the past twenty-four hours Rogue was a mental mess. She was trying to short out her feelings and decide on what to do. Wanda to her surprise seemed to be staying quiet and the normal air of tension in the room they shared was a bit lessened since yesterday.  
  
She wasn't sure why but she didn't care at the moment, she was too busy agonizing over her life. She had breakfast with the others but she had tried to avoid both Vincent and Remy. Remy seemed to take it in stride, Vincent whoever looked slightly hurt and he was wondering if she was still mad at him.  
  
Rogue however felt horrible about the while thing. She was wondering what exactly to do. She was just walking around the mansion, not really caring where she was going she was just deep in thought.  
  
"Penny for your thoughts chere." She heard Gambit say to her. She looked over to her left and saw him leaning against one of the walls casually. She really didn't need this now.  
  
"Go away swamp rat ah'm busy." She snapped at him. He didn't seemed to be phased by it, he just stood there smiling at her. He moved in closer to her still smiling.  
  
"And what exactly are you busy with? Maybe Remy could help?" He said. He was right in front of her leaning in close. She felt his hand caress her cheek and he seemed to be getting in closer.  
  
She could feel her rate increasing and she knew he was getting ready to kiss her. She took a step back quickly and got out of there before anything else happened. He went up the stairs her heart hammering in her hears.  
  
She needed help, to tell this to someone, anyone, and maybe for some help too. But who?  
  
Rogue walked into Kitty's room. She saw Dani wasn't in there, which was good since she needed to talk to Kitty alone. She was on her bed petting Lockheed. "Hey Rogue like what's up?"  
  
Rogue closed the door and walked over to the bed. Kitty could tell Rogue was troubled about something. "Rogue what is it?" She said. Rogue never looked like this, and it was scarring her a little.  
  
Rogue sighed. She told Kitty everything that was happening with her and Gambit. At the end Kitty didn't know what to say. "Kitty what do ah do?" She pleaded. "Ah'm so confused."  
  
"Okay let's try something. Now when I say something no matter what you replay with the first thing in your head, okay?" Kitty said to her. Rogue gave her a look that said she wasn't convinced this was a great idea. "Just like go with it okay?"  
  
Rogue sighed and nodded. So Kitty began. "Color."  
  
"Green."  
  
"Homework."  
  
"Boring."  
  
"Power."  
  
"Strength."  
  
"Is Gambit cute?"  
  
"Ye-NO!" She was about to say yes but had stopped herself.  
  
"Rogue you can't like change your answer, now let's try this again and remember no matter what, _be_ honest." Kitty said to her. Once again they started off and then Kitty got to the more interesting questions.  
  
"Are you attracted to Gambit?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Are you attracted to Vincent?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Who do you love?"  
  
"Vincent." Then it came to her. Yes she was attracted to both but the question was _WHO_ was she in love with. She hardly knew Remy, but she knew Vincent better then anyone. He had been there for her in her worst times and she for him, he had comforted her and before she could touch he wasn't afraid of her, or gave any special attention to her skin.  
  
He had made her feel normal at times, and after she could touch they had become even closer. She had told him things that she hadn't told many if any one else at all. He was kind and sweet and at times even could be romantic, even if she found it slightly crony sometimes but she liked it all the same. It became clear to her now what she had to do. "Thanks Kitty I owe you!" She hugged the girl and ran off, she first had to stop off at her room before she could confront Gambit.  
  
Vincent was walking along the corridors depressed. He wish he knew what was going on, he was sure Rogue was over her anger but he knew there was something else going on too, but he didn't know what. He was nearing a corner when he heard her voice in the next room.  
  
"Gambit, we need to talk." It was a serious tone and he had a bad feeling. He knew he shouldn't but maybe he would get some insight to what was going on. So he pressed himself against the wall and listened.  
  
Rogue had found Remy right where he was the last time. She had gone up to him and he flashed her that smile of his. "So chere what is it dat you wanted to see Remy about?" With that smile of his still on his face.  
  
"Look we need ta talk about what is goin' on between us." At her words Vincent's heart suddenly stopped and he got a cold feeling in his guts. He didn't like the sound of that.  
  
Remy moved in closer to her. "So you do feel somethin' for me non?"  
  
She took a breath. "Honestly? Ah do, ah am attracted to ya."  
  
Vincent on the other hand didn't want to hear anymore but he found his legs weren't moving. He felt so empty at that point, like someone just ripped out everything inside of him, leaving him hollow.  
  
Remy smiled and moved in to kiss her but she put a hand on his chest and stopped him. "But ah _love_ Vincent. Ah'm sorry, maybe in another time and place in another life...maybe there could have been somethin' but not now. Ah'm sorry." She placed something in his hands and turned and walked off.  
  
He looked down at what was in his hands and his face fell slightly in disappointment. It was the queen of hearts card that he had given her. At that moment he knew he couldn't have her heart, because she had already given it to someone else.  
  
Vincent on the other hand was overjoyed and relived. In that minute he had felt his life crumble and then rebuilt itself. He was ecstatic that she had chosen him, he was also slightly angry at the while thing, mainly at Remy, but he knew better then to act on it. IT was her choice after all.  
  
If she had chosen him, he wouldn't have gone all jealous and had ripped him to shreds, which he knew he could literally do in seconds, but he respected Rogue too much to go against her wishes. That didn't mean he would like it or wouldn't have been hurt, but she was her own person with her own will and choices.  
  
He was just glad that he still had her in his life like that. After everything, he wasn't sure if he could take loser her so suddenly. Almost everything good had been taken from him in life, and he was so afraid in that moment that one of the best things to ever happen to him was gone.  
  
But she wasn't. He walked away smiling. He knew now what was on her mind, he wouldn't confront her with it, but if she chose to tell him, then he would wait for her to. But none of that mattered. All that matter was that the love of his life was still with him.  
  
Rogue on the other hand felt good about herself. She felt she finally knew what she wanted and no longer had the confusion and doubt in her mind. Maybe that had been her problem. Instead of thinking about it, she should have just listened to her heart.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 5: WHAT'S IN A NAME**  
  
X23 gets her name, personally I've been leaning towards Sarah, I just like it but I'm not sure.  
  
AN: Just for those interested it seems it was 4 votes for Vincent and 2 for Remy with one undecided, but I was going to do this anyway, I mean I put Vince through enough as it is right? (Although I know it would have been 6 if two people I know weren't too busy to review) 


	6. What's in a Name

Sparky Genocide: Actually Suron did have a small cameo but I was going to introduce him and the Savage Land Brotherhood later. I got other plans for Dazzler though, and Sinister already has Morbius as his assistant, you know maybe I'll do a fic that centers on the Savage Land after this.  
  
BlackRoseApocalyps: I knew that you would, and I can't wait for the next update to your story.  
  
celtcath74: I couldn't think of how to drag it out anymore so I just ended it, and I wasn't but you just gave me an idea, look for it near the end of this story.  
  
stgcrew24: Really? I just think that was too much of a guy's name for her, but I'm glad you still like the story.  
  
Red Witch: Tell me about it, but I think Sarah is a good name for her.  
  
yae yang: Well that explains that I guess. Glad you liked the name.  
  
The Uncanny R-Man: Yeah I got that from an episode of friends, and I just put too much work into Rogue & Vincent to just end it.  
  
DemonRogue13: I agree with that, kind of why I did that.  
  
EvilWhiteRaven: I got someone in mind for Remy who I think is purrrrrfect for him (Hint, hint) Rogue 18 Vincent nearly 18 (in this time line his birthday is in about a couple of weeks) Why did you want to know?  
  
Supergirlhv: Glad you liked the name, and I thought about that, but that has been done to death.

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS  
  
CHAPTER 6: WHAT'S IN A NAME**  
  
X23 was sitting on her bed in her room looking through a book on names. Ever since she thought of a name to call herself she couldn't decide on one. She didn't want someone else to name her, she wanted to do this herself so that she would always have something that was her's and no one could take it away from her.  
  
The book was something Logan had given her yesterday. It was from the library downstairs and he said if when was having trouble to try looking through it. So far she already found many names that weren't her.  
  
The others had also thrown in their own opinions too. Some of them had some weird and bizarre choices for her. She just wanted something simple, something normal and ordinary since she was far from that, and she knew she would always feel like that too. She had seen and been through too much to live a completely normal life.  
  
Paige walked in seeing her and the book. "So come up with anythin' yet?"  
  
X23 let out a small growl in frustration. "No. Who knew picking a name was so difficult." She said never taking her eyes off of the pages.  
  
"Well maybe you could just make a list of names ya like and pick somethin' from that? Or maybe just ah don't know...pick one at random." She offered.  
  
X23 gave a girl a look and went back to looking through the names. 'Fahne, ah was just tryin' to help ya." She said and walked out of the door. X23 didn't watch her go but she thought about what she said.  
  
Soon getting frustrated once again she decided to write down names she liked for herself. Luckily Hydra thought teaching her to read and write would be helpful for missions so she could read the paper in front of her. It was just good tactical sense to do so, if she didn't know a sign that said 'Danger' or 'Armory' or couldn't read instructions she would be kind of useless as an agent, she would be useful only as a going up against soldiers in the field and they had enough of soldiers for that.  
  
They had needed someone for espionage and who ever heard of an illiterate espionage agent. In fact they taught her a few languages and not just English, along with computer hacking, how to create a false identity and a few other things, like how to get past and disable most security systems.  
  
After about an hour of looking through that book a few times for names that had caught her eye she had a list all drawn up but now couldn't decide. So she did what Paige had said, she picked at random.  
  
She closed her eyes and ran a finger up and down the sheet of paper then suddenly stopped. She opened her eyes and found the name under her finger. She thought about it and she liked it, so she chose that to be her new name.  
  
For a moment she felt relieved both to have all of that finished but she also felt somehow...whole. Like a missing piece of her life was suddenly put into place. Now there was only one more thing to do, she needed to speak with Logan.  
  
She found Logan easily enough with her enhanced senses. He was outside in the backyard overlooking a few of the kids and having a smoke since the kids kept complaining of the smell while he smoked inside. She could relate how with his sense of smell could stand it was beyond her.  
  
She walked over to him seeing a few of the kids playing a game and she also saw Blink and Ororo working in the flower bed. They were laughing about something and for a moment she felt envious that the girl had someone in her life like Ororo, she wondered if she and Logan would ever have a relationship like that.  
  
As she walked up to him, he turned to her as she walked over not surprised in the least it was her. "Got somethin' on your mind?" He asked her. She quested that he had heard and had smelt her coming, since they had the same enhanced senses.  
  
"I...I picked a name. You said that if I do I should tell you and the Professor." She said. She didn't know why she felt slightly nervous, she had gone through the rigors of Hydra training and yet she seemed nervous that he would what...disapprove of her choice? It was strange but the more she was around him the more she felt like...she wanted his approval or something.  
  
Logan nodded to her. "Good, let's go tell Chuck, he's got some paperwork that needs to have your name on it." She followed behind him as he led the way. They made their way to his office and as they entered she saw him there ready with a fold with papers in it.  
  
She was beginning to wonder how he knew when she remembered he was a telepath and Logan most likely had sent a message to him. It was a little uneasy how he could do that but she refused to show it.  
  
Xavier smiled kindly and gently at her, she found herself a little more at ease then. There was just something about this man that could make you feel more comfortable. "Well I think we should start with this, Logan insisted that you do this one first."  
  
He placed a paper in front of her and was startled at what it was. They were adoption papers that much was certain to her. She looked at the bottom where it said parent and child and there was Logan's signature, although it only said Mr. Logan since even he wasn't sure of his own name.  
  
She found it ironic that here she was picking her own name and he only had one he was uncertain was either a first or last name, although the kids did call him Mr. Logan, for all anyone knew that was a first name.  
  
She looked at Logan not sure what she was feeling at that moment. "Why?" She weakly said to him. He knelt down next to her.  
  
"I know were not exactly father and daughter, but we're also the closest thing to actual family that we got in this world." He said to her. She felt the same warm unfamiliar feeling inside of her at his words and actions.  
  
She thought back to seeing all those kids while she did her training in the park. Of kids and their parents and she knew she didn't have any that no one would want her and that she was alone in the world. But Logan did want her, he wanted to be the father that she never had, and she realized that for the first time she would actually have a type of family that she deep down always wanted.  
  
She turned to the paper and sighed her first name, then as she was about to set the pen down she stopped. A small smile placed itself on her face and she added one more thing. She handed it to Logan and he looked at it.  
  
There was a surprised expression on his face as he saw the name and then a proud expression and smile seemed to replace it a second later. He placed the paper on the desk and X23 looked up at the taller man.  
  
Logan placed his hand on the girls shoulder. "It's a good name." He said to her. She felt that warm feeling inside herself again, and tears starting to form. She touched them as they began to fall. The last two times she had cried was after she had confronted Logan and let out all her frustration and pain out on him, the second was back in that cell of Magneto.  
  
This time it was different. There was no pain inside causing it, in fact she felt good. So why was she crying if she was happy? She didn't understand and then Logan placed his arm around her and she felt compelled to hug him.  
  
She was even more glad when he hugged her back even if she didn't completely understand what she was feeling. She felt that warm feeling inside again and it felt nice in Logan's arms like that. She felt safe, warm and for the first time...loved.  
  
She finally felt like maybe she was somewhere that could be a home to her, a real home. And now that Logan was legally her father...she felt she had a real family, a family all her own and for the first time in her life she felt that one of her most desperate dreams had come true for her.  
  
Xavier couldn't help but smile at the scene he looked at the paper and was surprised by the name she chose. On the legal document where she sighed it, it read; Sarah Logan.  
  
"Well I can finish most of this up for you and have you and Logan sign it all later." Xavier said excusing himself from the private moment. He had known Logan for years and he always knew that deep down he always wanted a family.  
  
He couldn't remember his own past and what family he had, it was a hole in his life that he knew Logan had often thought he would never have filled. 'Maybe he and the young girl will fill that hole they each have in each other.' He mused to himself hoping for the best for the two of them.  
  
Then he smiled at the thought of Logan as a parent with a daughter that truly took after him and he couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Thoughts of Logan dealing with certain things only parents had to was just too priceless and he also thought of what happens when she started dating.  
  
'My old friend I hope you can deal with what you just sighed up for.' He thought, but deep down he knew that those two would be good for each other and that he would survive since he was a survivor.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 7: GIRLS' NIGHT PART 1  
  
If you got any sugestions or anything let me know **


	7. Girls' Night Part 1

stgcrew24: Glad you liked it, and she deserves it after everything Hydra put her through.  
  
Ranndie Mazda: Thanks glad you like all the stories so far.  
  
BlackRoseApocalyps: Thanks for the kind review and I'm glad the math exam worked out.  
  
Red Witch: Well I hope you like what I got in store, plus I agree with you on that point.  
  
yae yang: Yeah I was going to do that, I just need ideas for the dares.  
  
The Uncanny R-Man: I do got and idea for truth or dare with those two, but you'll just have to wait and see.  
  
EvilWhiteRaven: Glade you liked the name, and I admit it does have a ring to it. Sabertooth & Cheetara!? You are way off lol. It's a Marvel character, think white hair, black leather. They might talk about Johnny, but no guest appearance, that would make no sense.  
  
Supergirlhv: Yeah won't it, now I just have to think of someone who wouldn't mine going out with her with Logan as her father.  
  
DemonRogue13: Yeah I know plus I needed a last name and you got to admit it fits perfectly.

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS  
  
CHAPTER 7: GIRLS' NIGHT PART 1**  
  
The next day Tabitha and several of the other girls had asked the Professor permission for their little get together, he agreed as long as they behaved and didn't stay up past midnight he was fine with it.  
  
It wasn't until around eight that they started to set things up. They got out bedrolls, extra blankets and pillows. Several of the girls got other supplies as well mostly snack foods and a few other things too.  
  
Shortly after that the door bell rang. "I'll get it." Gale said and ran for the door. She opened the door and found Pam and Amy with some backpacks.  
  
"Are we late?" Pam said smiling, Amy also looked excited about it too although a bit more reserved then Pam.  
  
"Nope we're just getting started." Gale said to them. "Everyone's in the living room right now." She led them there and closed the doors of the living room after they got in for their privacy.  
  
"Glad you two could join in." Tabitha said while placing her stuff in an area.  
  
"Wouldn't miss this for the world Tabby." Pam said grinning.  
  
"You got everything?" Gale asked Amy.  
  
She nodded. "Yeah I think so, at least I hope so." Gale could feel the other girl's nervousness and thought it was cute, well actually she thought she was cute in general but she wouldn't go there. She wanted to make sure of a few things and she always was a little shy when it came to asking another girls out, especially if they weren't gay like her.  
  
But luckily with her empathic powers she had an edge she never had before, so she just wanted to see if Amy felt a certain way about her first before she got the courage to do anything about it.  
  
She wasn't sure at first but after her first meeting with her she was really starting to like her. She was sweet, kind and shyness was kind of cute, plus while they talked yesterday she found Amy and her had a few things in common. But after that hole Jillian thing, which even though nothing really happened and after her first time dating another girl which had ended badly since they were just too different to relate to each other, she wanted to make sure before she asked another girl out again.  
  
Maybe it was a little cowardice but like the old saying about being bitten once twice shy she just didn't want to go through that again anytime soon.  
  
"So are we changing in here or what?" Pam asked them.  
  
"Oh there's like a bathroom on this floor down that hall." Kitty said pointing to a closed door. "When we're ready we can change in there."  
  
"I just hope the boys don't try to sneak a peak at us as we're leaving." Tabitha said although by her attitude you could tell she wouldn't mind, especially if a certain farm boy was there.  
  
"They wouldn't do that...would they?" Blink asked Amanda.  
  
"Well most of them know better, but a few I think common sense went out the window at birth." Amanda said to her. Several of the girls laughed at that, since they knew a few who fit into that category.  
  
"So what exactly do we do at these things?" Illyana asked them. "I've never been to one before."  
  
"I'll have to agree with her on this one." Blink said.  
  
"Since I was in a lab most of my life I have no idea what this is for myself." Sarah said while sitting next to Paige. Wanda just nodded herself seeing she spend most of her life locked up, but didn't want to voice it out.  
  
"Oh you know we talk about boys, what's cool, relationships." Tabitha began.  
  
"Aye oh can we each other's nails?" Rahne asked. "I always thought Jubilee could use a different color."  
  
"Really?" Jubilee said looking at her nails.  
  
**REC ROOM**  
  
While in the Rec. Room most of the boys had gathered together since either their significant others or single girls were all together. "What exactly to girls do at those things?" Jamie asked innocently.  
  
"Who knows?" Roberto said who was lining up a shot at the pool table.  
  
"Yeah it's not like anyone can ask them since their in 'lock-down' and wouldn't tell us anyway, I mean who knows what they talk about." Bobby said watching and hoping Roberto would miss the shot.  
  
"Well I might know someone." Vincent said from a couch where he was reading a magazine.  
  
"Really? Who?" Alex who was playing against Jamie in a game asked the older boy.  
  
"Well I could go on-line and ask a friend of mine, that is if she's logged on." He offered. The boys in the room stopped what they were doing and looked at him.  
  
"You serious?" Kurt asked, who currently was playing cards with Scott, Ray and Forge.  
  
He shrugged. "Yeah I mean-whoa!" He was suddenly picked up by several of the boys and took off for his room carrying him the entire time. Jamie, Alex, Scott and Forge were still the only ones still in the room after that and just shrugged at each other.  
  
"Want to play a game of pool?" Scott asked Forge since Ray and Kurt had taken off.  
  
"Sure why not." He said and they made their way to the pool table, while Jamie and Alex continued playing.  
  
**LIVING ROOM**  
  
The girls were talking about several things at this time and some were even braiding each other's hair when it was suggested. Kitty was making one long one out of Jean's like she normally had it when doing outside exercise. (Think Lara Croft) and Paige had even talked Sarah into it.  
  
She had one braid going down the right side of her face when she had finished. "So what exactly is the point of this?" Sarah asked Paige.  
  
"Because it's fun and it looks nice on ya." She said. "Check it out." She told her and pointed to the mirror. Sarah went to the mirror in the room hanging on one of the walls. She checked out her reflection, shrugged and sat back down.  
  
"I still don't get it." She said. Paige just sighed in defeat.  
  
"So Jean there's something I've been meaning at ask." Tabitha said a small smile forming on her face. "You and Scott are pretty close right?"  
  
Jean blinked once, an uneasy feeling of where this was going. "Uh...yeah...why?"  
  
"Just wondering how close, I mean have you two done it yet?" That got the attention of every girl in the room focused on it.  
  
"Wh-what?" Jean said, but the fact that she was blushing a lot already sealed her fate.  
  
"I knew it!" Tabby exclaimed jumping up to he feet and pointing at her.  
  
Jean just blushed even more. "Whoa. Jean, when did that start?" Kitty said from behind her.  
  
"And how come Logan hasn't shredded Scott yet?" Amanda asked her also.  
  
"Well we actually talked about it first for a while then not long after Vincent arrived we started." Jean said. She knew full well they wouldn't drop it until she gave them something, and she really didn't need one of them to threaten to tell Logan if she didn't, and she was sure a couple of them would do that.  
  
"As for Logan, the next day we shower and he puts on aftershave and I put on perfume to hide the scents." She explained.  
  
"I can't believe no one found out for so long." Dani said. "I wasn't been that long but I know you can't keep secrets in this place."  
  
"Well...actually Hank knows since we both decided to make sure neither of us had anything, plus before we started I went to him for...well..." She trailed off slightly embarrassed by the memory.  
  
"What? What?" Amara asked having the suspense killing her.  
  
"Birth control." Jean finally said.  
  
"Oh that couldn't have been pretty." Jubilee said making a face at it.  
  
"Tell me about it." Jean said placing a hand on her forehead. "Even thought Hank said that it was confidential, he still looked like he wanted to faint and gave me a lecture about sex."  
  
Several of the others whined at that. "I wonder if ah'm old enough to hear all of this?" Paige offered.  
  
"Hey, you got to learn sometime." Tabitha casually said to the young southern girl.  
  
"So no one else knows?" Kitty asked next.  
  
"Well...Vince caught me coming out of Scott's room one time." She admitted.  
  
"What?" Rogue said shocked. "He nevah told meh that."  
  
"Most likely because he said if he would kept his mouth shut if we owed him a favor each. How do you think he got Scott's car for that date you guys had last month?" Jean told her.  
  
"So that's how he did it...just when ya think ya know someone, hey is that favor for ya still open? I wonder if would let me use it?" Rogue said and Jean glared at the girl for a second.  
  
"Oh so what about you two then?" Jean said back to Rogue. "Have you two gone that far yet?" She teased.  
  
Rogue blushed. "Of course not! We haven't even talked about it! Besides he won't be eighteen until two weeks and if we did ya know what Logan threatened. He said as long as we're eighteen it was legal."  
  
"Yeah but you know that guy would still be royally pissed." Blink said.  
  
"I get that same feeling from him too." Pam offered. "And I don't even live here."  
  
"So what are you going to get him for his birthday, or should I say do for him?" Tabitha said and broke out laughing. A second later she was hit in the face by a pillow.  
  
"Ya got a dirty mind Tabitha!" Rogue shouted to the girl in question who was still laughing at it all.  
  
"Just don't do it in our room, I got enough nightmares as it is from the asylum." Wanda said to her. "And I really don't want the visual of that in my head, it might send me back there."  
  
"Tell me about it." Kitty moaned.  
  
"Oh yeah that's right I forgot about that sex prank those two pulled on Kurt, and how ye walked in on them." Rahne said.  
  
"I wonder how he would react about the real thing?" Dani said and most of the girls broke out in laughter while some explained to the new girls.  
  
Rogue had her face buried in her hands. "Would you all just pick on someone else now?"

* * *

**  
NEXT UP CHAPTER 8: GIRL'S NIGHT PART 2  
  
Remember I could still use a few ideas for stuff for them to do.**


	8. Girls' Night Part 2

Sparky Genocide: Sorry they're not leaving the mansion period. But that is a good idea, maybe I'll use it some other time, like in the next story.  
  
Red Witch: You bet and I'll see if I can get a few more out before you get back.  
  
Ldypebsaby: Hope it was nice at least, and you might see a little more Remy trying, also thanks for the suggestion.  
  
LadyDeathStrike1: Don't worry I will, but I don't want to exclude the other too much, but I did have an idea for a little Logan/Sarah fic later on.  
  
fire inu: Way ahead of you, I already had those ideas.  
  
BlackRoseApocalyps: Well not sneak in but you'll see what they come up with.  
  
Red Witch: Glad you liked it.  
  
Spammer: Does the Institute have surveillance in the mansion? Besides someone already did that and I don't want to copy them without permission, but thanks anyway.  
  
yae yang: I'm sorry to hear that you won't be able to read/review anymore, your one of my oldest fans of my work and I'm sad to see you go. I hope I'm STILL writing in 4 years and will see you again one day, but you never know. I hope you have a great time anyway in your new home and I hope to one day hear form you again. Goodbye and good luck.  
  
The Uncanny R-Man: Tabby does seem the type doesn't see? And I got something special for those two.  
  
EvilWhiteRaven: LOL, oh God that's good stuff, man that friend of yours has one sick and devious mind...I like her already. Thanks for the ideas.  
  
Supergirlhv: Actually they did near the end of Enter Mayhem, but you'll see who it is.  
  
DemonRogue13: Oh believe me I got plans for all of that already.

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS  
  
CHAPTER 8: GIRL'S NIGHT PART 2**  
  
Piotr was just reading alone in his shared room. He like to have some quiet time to himself now and then, and this was the perfect time for it since all the girls were in one room while the guys were either 'sulking' or just hanging out.  
  
He was still new himself and was still getting used to being here. It was strange not long ago he was fighting the X-Men now he was apart of them. Even though they were nice to him, and could understand his reasons for following Magneto, he felt he had to still earn their respect and friendship.  
  
At least they all weren't hostile to him. Roberto, Ray and Bobby seemed not to completely trust him, but that was to be expected he guessed. Then he thought about those that were trying to make him feel at home. His roommate Vincent seemed like a nice guy, and he didn't seem to have anything against him, then again he was fairly new too and he hadn't had to face Piotr when he was still working for Magneto.  
  
Then he thought about Kitty and he couldn't help but smile at the girl. She was such a sweet and nice person, and she really seemed to think any less of him for what he had done. She once told him that she understood that he did, he did for family and that she could and some of the others could see that he regretted his actions. He snapped out of his thoughts when he realized he must have been on the same page for a few minutes.  
  
That's when the door burst open with several of the guys carrying Vincent in. "Look let me go now, before I start breaking bones and we have to call in Gale to fix it!" He threatened. They let him go immediately.  
  
"Sorry man, but if you got a source that you can call up we need to know what exactly they're going to talk about." Ray said. "I mean how personal do these things get?"  
  
"Got something to hide?" Vince said slightly.  
  
"Doesn't everyone?" Bobby asked. "I mean what if Rogue lets something slip about you?"  
  
"She wouldn't do that...I think." He said.  
  
While in the living room. "So Rogue you still got a few of Vincent's memories right?" Jubilee asked.  
  
"I got a little of everyone...why?" She asked her.  
  
"Got anything juicy?" She girl asked leaning in and grinning. Rogue had a small grin of her own.  
  
"On second thought I'll see if she's on-line." Vincent said going to his laptop. He activated it and pulled up his friends list. "Well there she is." He told them pointing.  
  
"M-GRL?" Bobby asked him.  
  
"Yeah that's Mary, my old friend from Toronto." He said and sent a message.

* * *

[M-GRL]: Hey! Long time no see! What's up V?  
  
[V-boy]: Well the girls are having a sleep over and nearly all the guys want to know how much they should worry.  
  
[M-GRL]: LOL, tell them be afraid, be very afraid.  
  
[V-boy]: They said that's not funny.  
  
[M-GRL]: THEY'RE RIGHT THERE?  
  
[V-boy]: askfhaso  
  
[M-GRL]:Vince what was that?  
  
[V-boy]: sorry they were trying to type something and I had to threaten them with sever pain if they tried it again.  
  
[M-GRL]: lol, so...what do they want to know?

* * *

**LIVING ROOM**  
  
"Guys there has to be something else we could do." Dani said looking at Rahne painting her toes.  
  
"Oh I know." Kitty said and turned to Amanda. "Can you take me to my room really quickly?"  
  
"Sure." Amanda said and grabbed her and they disappeared in a flash of light. A few minutes later Kitty was back with her laptop. She went over to the phone unplugged it and jacked her laptop in.  
  
The girls watched in fascination as Kitty began working. "What are you up to?" Amara asked her.  
  
"You'll see." Kitty said smiling. After about five minutes she stopped. "Alright I got them."  
  
"Got what?" Jean asked her not really liking what was going on.  
  
Kitty smiled. "I got Kelly's phone number, anyone up for a few prank calls?" Many of the girls immediately jumped at the chance.  
  
"Girls we can do that." Jean said sternly.  
  
"Come on, you can't tell me a few prank calls after everything that guy has done and is doing at least deserves that?" Tabitha said to her.  
  
"Yeah remember how he made our lives miserable in high school." Kitty said to her.  
  
Amanda spoke up next. "Or how you got kicked off all the sport teams."  
  
"Give me the phone I want the first shot at him." Jean said slightly angry at the memory.  
  
Newly elected Senator Kelly was sitting down doing paper work when his phone rang. "Hello?"  
  
"Yes I'm from your doctors office I have some bad news we mixed up your test results with another patient." The voice on the other line said.  
  
"What? Is something wrong?" He asked getting a little nervous.  
  
"Well...it seems that you have cancer in your testicles."  
  
"What!?" Kelly yelled out. "I thought something was strange there."  
  
"It's not that bad."  
  
"Why, can it be fixed?"  
  
"Oh no that's not it, your impident so there's nothing for it to affect." Said the voice.  
  
Kelly just stood there frozen in place. Jean on the other hand hung up, she couldn't hold her laughing back anymore and as soon as she had hanged up the phone burst out laughing, alone with most of the other girls even Wanda had to admit that was funny.  
  
It was strange for her. All her life she had been alone but now she was starting to get the feeling of belonging somewhere. It was kind of like at the Brotherhood house but only more so. A few of the people here either didn't know her well enough to be afraid of her, or just didn't care and she had to admit it was nice to be around people and feel welcomed.  
  
"God Jean that was so mean." Kitty said giggling.  
  
"But you got to admit it was great." Blink said laughing so far her face was turning slightly purple, well for her that was her version of her face turning red because of her skin.  
  
"So who's next?" Jean asked.  
  
Back in Vince and Piotr's room the guys were looking over everything Mary was telling them. "Do girls really do all of zat?" Kurt asked ready a few of the things over again.  
  
"I guess so." Ray said to him.  
  
"This might not end well." Roberto said.  
  
"What are you worried about? You don't have a girlfriend in there." Bobby said to him.  
  
"We might need to know what's going on in there." Sam asked and everyone looked at him. "Hey ah love Tabby too, but with her AND my little sister in there I got more damagin' material that could be used against meh."  
  
"Yeah but how?" Ray asked.  
  
"What about Forge? You think he has something that could help?" Bobby asked them. They all quickly went back to the Rec. Room to pick up Forge. Piotr looked at the desk to see Vincent there watching them go.  
  
"Are you not going to go too?" The big Russian asked him.  
  
"Are you kidding me, if those girls find out, especially Rogue that I was spying on them...well...I don't want to think about it." He told him. Piotr nodded his head in understanding.  
  
After about thirty minutes the girls were getting a little bored and they were running out of ideas of what to use against Kelly. Besides he seemed to have stopped answering.  
  
"So what now?" Paige asked them.  
  
"How about the time honored tradition of Truth or Dare?" Rahne asked them.  
  
"I'm in for that." Tabby said smiling.  
  
"What's truth or dare?" Sarah asked them.  
  
"Like basically we each take turns and ask one girl to choose between a truth or a dare, if you don't want to do the dare then you have to answer the truth, and vise-versa." Kitty explained to the clone.  
  
"Alright then." She said understanding.  
  
"I think we should have a few ground rules though." Jean said to them. "First you can't do anything to another girls' boyfriend like kissing them or something."  
  
"Sound reasonable to me." Amanda said. "Also nothing that would damage anything, the Professor might call this off if we break something."  
  
"That's a good point." Jean said. "Oh and nothing that requires us to leave the grounds, I mean I don't think the adults would appreciate us going all over Bayville throughout the night."  
  
"So is that it?" Pam asked. The others seemed to agree. "Okay who's going first?"

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 9: GIRL'S NIGHT PART 3**  
  
Well I got a few ideas, but I could use a little more for the next chapter. 


	9. Girl's Night Part 3

Sparky Genocide: Oh Jamie will be getting a little action you can be sure of that, nut not Wanda I mean a 18 and a 13 year old is just too weird.  
  
X-TREM-X23: Good idea for teacher her that, maybe I'll do that later or something, but any guy she does that too would be too nervous looking out for Logan, plus she's only 14. As for Sarah/Kurt I'm not sure, maybe I can think of something but their not going to be a couple.  
  
yae yang: Goodbye and sure thing, I just hope your reading this in 4 years.  
  
celtcath74: Well I'm trying to loosen her up a little.  
  
Ldypebsaby: I was thinking of something so I guess I'll through it in.  
  
LadyDeathStrike1: Well the only single guys that I don't have anything planned for is Forge & Roberto, but their a couple of years older then her. But you might like what I got planned.  
  
BlackRoseApocalyps: Painful, humiliating and a few other things too, but I'll get to that later.  
  
Red Witch: Glad you liked it.  
  
The Uncanny R-Man: Thanks for the ideas, I'll try and fit it in.  
  
EvilWhiteRaven: Glad you found that funny.  
  
Supergirlhv: To say the least yeah interesting is a nice word for it.  
  
DemonRogue13: That's alright, I think I can still make a decent chapter.

* * *

**  
ADJUSTMENTS  
  
CHAPTER 9: GIRL'S NIGHT PART 3**  
  
"Well since you're the guest why not start us off?" Jean said to her. "Then we take it from there."  
  
"Alright." Pam said excitedly. Then she locked onto Kitty. "Alright Kitty, you going to take a truth or dare?"  
  
"Uh...dare?" Kitty asked nervously seeing the look in her face.  
  
"Okay you got to dance to one of those Brittany Spears songs you like." Pam said grinning.  
  
"Like sure that doesn't sound so bad."  
  
"I wasn't finished." Pam said her grin getting wider. "You got to do it in your underwear."  
  
"What?" Kitty said shocked. "Fine." She said sharply. She got Blink to take her to her room and get a CD and placed it in the stereo. She started to undress while Gale averted her gaze, she didn't think it was proper to see a girl undress like that. Although she did notice that Kitty like to wear pink undergarments.  
  
Pam and Tabitha looked eyes and an impish grin formed on the two as Kitty was taking her clothing off they both in unison started singing. "bum-ba- bum-ba-bum-ba-bum-bum."  
  
"Nock if off you two!" Kitty said at their impromptu striping music. With that done she started up the music and started dancing, in fact she really started to get into it and sang along. "Oops I did it again, played with your heart, got lost in the game..." She sang. She ever started to dance like Brittany too. After that there was a round of applause and laughter.  
  
After Kitty sat down with a very deep blush forming after she dressed back up that is. She saw Jean was laughing the hardest so she went after the oldest girl. "Okay then Jean. Truth or dare?"  
  
"Truth." Jean stated.  
  
"Is Scott good in bed?" All the girls got interested in that question. Jean blushed deeply at that.  
  
"Uh...that's kind of personal, so I chose the dare." Jean said since they already knew too much as it was about her and Scott. Kitty just grinned evilly.  
  
A minute later in the Rec. Room Forge had just been taken by a group of guys and now he was short one player. Since Remy was nowhere to be seen and Alex and Jamie were still playing against each other he decided to play solo.  
  
He was startled when one of Blink's portals opened up and Blink and Jean stepped out. Jean was blushing madly and walked right up to him. "Jean what is it?" Scott asked her.  
  
The next thing he knew Jean had just slapped him on that butt. "There you go you damn sexy beast." Jean said. Blink burst out laughing and Jean quickly to Blink who was doubled over from laughter and couldn't make another portal so Jean just dragged her back into the room with her.  
  
Leaving the three very confused boys looking at each other. "Scott...does your girlfriend do that often?" Alex said looking at the door where they had left. Scott just stood there dumbfounded.  
  
The other boys had taken Forge to his lab. "Guys are you sure you want to do this? What if you get caught?" The Native American asked them.  
  
"We'll take that chance." Roberto said to him.  
  
"Alright but if I'm asked I'm saying you guys must have taken this from my lab." He said to them and handed them a dish with a handle and a speaker. "This only has a limited range so you guys are going to need to be right next to the room.  
  
"Thanks." Bobby said taking it.  
  
"So where do we set it up?" Ray said to him. "If we use it outside the door they might find out."  
  
"Whose room is right above the living room?" Roberto asked everyone.  
  
"Amanda and Blink's." Kurt said.  
  
"Gentlemen we have a place to set up shop." Bobby said to them all. Forge just went back to the Rec. Room, hoping the girls don't find out that he gave them that thing in order to get rid of them.

* * *

**LIVING ROOM**  
  
While this was going on after Blink had told them Scott's reaction Jean decided to target Blink next. "Alright then Clarice...Truth or Dare?"  
  
Blink thought about it, she didn't like the look in Jean's eyes and decided to go with truth. "Alright then...if you could go out with any of the boys who would it be?"  
  
Clarice gulped and bit her lower lip a little. "Well...take no offense and keep in mind I would never, ever try anything with him...but...I would choose Kurt."  
  
Amada looked surprised at her roommate. Blink held up her hands. "Don't worry I know he's all yours, I'm just saying you got good tastes."  
  
Amanda smiled at her. "Don't worry about it, Kurt is quite a catch."  
  
Blink smiled in relief at that. "Okay...Amara, truth or dare?"  
  
Amara wasn't about to demean herself she was royalty after all. "Truth."  
  
"Is there a guy you ever had a crush on while he was here?"  
  
Amara blushed deeply they all waited for her answer. "Shadow." She said weekly. They were all surprised by that.  
  
"So that's why you were all depressed for a week after that guy left." Tabitha said to her. "So your into the tall dark and silent type huh? I mean a real ninja, you really shot for the rare ones don't cha?" She said smiling.  
  
Amara turned to her. "Alright then Tabitha, which do you chose?"  
  
"Dare." She said proudly.  
  
"Fine I dare you to..."  
  
Scott, Forge, Alex and Jamie were in the Rec. Room still, they figured it was a safe t[lace to be and Scott was still wondering what had gotten into Jean. Logan came into the room then and the boys were shocked to see his face with pink lipstick on the cheek.  
  
"What happened to you?" Alex asked.  
  
"Tabitha for who knows what reason came up to be acting like a chicken then kissed me and told me I was her chicken king and left." He told them. The other boys had all on confused looks. "Yeah well if Xavier asks I went out, with who knows what's going on I need someplace nice and peaceful."  
  
Tabitha had returned from her dare, completely un-phased by it all. "Alright whose next?" Then she eyes Sarah. "Okay then Sarah your up."  
  
"You really want to know something about my past?" She said what we know...not really." Tabitha admitted. "So I take it as a dare then?" Sarah nodded. "Fine I dare you to...kiss Jamie."  
  
"WHAT?" Paige shouted, and everyone looked at her. She blushed deeply. "Never mind." She said quietly. Sarah was a little uneasy.  
  
"How...do you kiss?" She asked them.  
  
**LATER...**  
  
The boys were just minding their own business by now they had figured that the girls must have been playing truth or dare. It was the only explanation to the weird behavior. "What else do you think those girls will do?" Alex asked his brother.  
  
"I have no idea but I get the feeling we're going to find out." Scott said pointing at Sarah who just entered. They watched as she walked right up to Jamie and then softly kissed him on the mouth.  
  
Everyone just stood there with their mouths open, especially Jamie. Sarah just cocked her head to the side as if she was trying to figure out what she had felt then she returned back to the girls.  
  
"Good think Logan didn't see that." Forge said and the other boys just nodded, except for Jamie who was still in shock.  
  
On her return Sarah sat down. "So...how was it?" Jubilee asked her.  
  
Sarah thought about it and a small smile was on her face. "It was...nice."  
  
"Hump." Paige said crossing her arms at it. Sarah noticed this and a thought struck her.  
  
"Paige, truth or dare?" She asked her.  
  
"Dare." She said slightly coldly. At the mention of the dare Paige eyes and face lit up. Jamie was just getting over his first real kiss when he noticed Paige walk in. "Hey Jamie." She said to him.  
  
"Hi Piage look, did you girls-"But before he could finish Paige planted her own soft kiss on him and she smiled sweetly and walked off. Jamie now didn't know what to think anymore, except he had liked that a lot.  
  
Paige practically skipping back to her spot, grinning. "Aw does Paige have a little crush?" Jubilee teased.  
  
Paige glared at the slightly older girl. "Does Jubes what a broken nose?"  
  
"Like to se you try it." At that Paige ripped off the skin of one arm to show a metallic one underneath. "Uh...never mind, I take it back." She said backing away a little.  
  
While all this was going on the other boys were above them listening in on everything that was going on. "Man Jamie is most likely on cloud nine by now." Bobby grinned.  
  
"Lucky guy." Roberto said them. "But I guess you know that Kurt, since Blink's got the hot's for ya."  
  
"She does not!" He objected. "She just said I vas cute, zat's it. Besides after zat whole Jillian/Amanda thing do you really zink any other girl vould try to steal me avay from her?"  
  
The other boys had to agree on that point. "Hey common, Paige just asked Wanda next, this should be good." Ray said to them. They all hushed up and listened in.

* * *

**  
NEXT UP CHAPTER 4: GIRL'S NIGHT PART 4  
  
I think this might be the final one of the sleepover**  
  



	10. Girls' Night Part 4

Sparky Genocide: Now there's a neat idea, I'll see if I can work it in.  
  
X-TREM-X23: I know she does, but the question is who, and for the record she was 14 in the series and I'm sticking to that for her age.  
  
celtcath74: Unfortunately the Hellions won't make an appearance until the end, but they will met up with Emma & Selene later on.  
  
Ldypebsaby: Well I'm happy you found if funny, and for Wanda you're about to find out.  
  
LadyDeathStrike1: Didn't you read the past stories? This is the 6th in a series and I was refereeing to the last story Family Affairs. You did notice the Author's Note at the first chapter right?  
  
BlackRoseApocalyps: You'll most likely really like the ending I got planned for it.  
  
Red Witch: Glad you enjoy it, and that your back too.  
  
The Uncanny R-Man: Actually it was Scott, not Alex.  
  
EvilWhiteRaven: Glad you liked it, but I got a new job so I can't update as fast as I used to.  
  
Supergirlhv: Glad you liked it, it was hard to think up something outrageous for that girl to do.  
  
DemonRogue13: You have no idea.  
  
TheLegendaryManHimself: I hope you like what I had planned for the last few girls.  
  
Ranndie Mazda: Thanks, and you bet I'll keep going.

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS  
  
CHAPTER 4: GIRL'S NIGHT PART 4**  
  
"I'm telling you al right now, I'm not doing any crazy dare." Wanda said out flatly.  
  
"Fine then for a truth tell us...have you ever kissed a boy?"  
  
Wanda winced at the memory of her first kiss. "Does it have to be mutual or something on the line of kissing them on the cheek?"  
  
"Oh I want to hear this, you got to do both now." Tabitha said grinning.  
  
"Fine." Wanda said coldly to the girl and made a mental note to get her back later. "The first time was with...Toad." The girls gasped at that. "Hey in my defense I was unconscious at the time, and he kissed me! I had to brush my teeth for an hour to get the taste out. The next was when I...well...I kissed Spider-Man on the cheek when he dropped me back here."  
  
Now the girls were really interesting in this. "No way!" Dani said to the Goth girl.  
  
"Hey I remember him bein' here a few days ago." Rahne said. "He was deliverin' somethin' tae Mr. McCoy."  
  
"Yeah well, we met on his way here, we talked, and that's all your getting." Wanda told them sternly. The girls tried but she wouldn't say anymore. "Alright then Jubilee your up."  
  
The Asian girl thought about it. "What the heck, dare."  
  
Wanda smiled. "I dare you to go into Bobby's room and wear his underwear for the rest of the night." Jubilee was left open mouthed but she didn't want to be thought of as a coward so she agreed. It took several minutes of waiting until she came back.  
  
"Well?" Wanda said to her. "We got to know if you are." Jubilee pulled down her pants slightly to reveal a pair a light blue boxers.  
  
Upstairs when they heard that Jubilee is back Bobby got up and left the room. He returned a few minutes later.  
  
"What was that about?" Roberto asked.  
  
"I just wanted to know what pair she took." He said grinning to himself.  
  
"I don't want to know man, I just don't want to know why you wanted to know." Ray said to him.

* * *

**BACK DOWNSTAIRS.**  
  
While this was going on things were winding down a little. Someone asked Illyana what he thought of Alex and not only did she blush deeply but the fireplace bust into flames suddenly. It took a few minutes to put it out, luckily it was in the fires place so there was no harm.  
  
When it got to Pam she looked at her best friend. "Alright Amy. Truth or dare?"  
  
Amy looked nervously at Pam and the others. She knew what her friend would ask for a truth so she chose dare. "I dare you to tell the person you like that you do, that is if they're here." She said grinning.  
  
"Pam!" Amy whined. "You know I can't do that."  
  
"Why is he taken?" Amara asked.  
  
"No it's not that...it's just...I-I can't...they wouldn't feel the same about me." Amy said sadly to them.  
  
"You mind if I take her place since she's having a tough time with this" Gale asked Pam. Pam seeing her friend getting a little upset at this agreed.  
  
"Yeah, sorry Amy I just thought that you were ready-never mind." She said to Amy, then turned to Gale. "So Gale your up, same thing."  
  
Gale could feel her heart racing, and she wasn't sure what to do, but after everything she had learned she had to take the chance. Amy who was sitting right next to her noticed her nervousness. "Are you alright?"  
  
Gale exhaled deeply. "I guess we'll find out." To the surprise of everyone Gale turned and actually kissed Amy full on the lips. Everyone was surprised by it even Amy, well Blink was only half-surprised. Then to everyone's amazement Amy after a few seconds actually kissed her back.  
  
Pam sat there grinning madly. "It's about time she found someone." She said to herself watching her best friend. After the two pulled themselves away both blushing madly Amy broke the silence. "How-What-Why-Huh?"  
  
Gale giggled a little. "Well you can't really hide your emotions from an empath you know, and after what you said I pieced it all together."  
  
"You mean whenever I was looking at you-you...felt what I was feeling?" Amy said completely embarrassed and wishing the world would swallow her up.  
  
"Hold on a minute, I thought you were looking at Piotr earlier at the pool?" Tabitha said to her.  
  
"Actually I was looking at Gale...in her bathing suit." She said blushing even more. Now Tabitha smacked her head as she realized that Gale was right next to Piotr at the time.  
  
"Could someone please tell us what's like going on?" Kitty said to them all.  
  
"Simple." Pam said to her. "Amy is gay, and I'm guessing Gale is too and I'm also guessing from that kiss that they both like each other but were to shy to admit it."  
  
The girls were a little stunned at that then Amanda noticed Blink trying to hide a smile. "Blink did you know about any of this?"  
  
"Well...I did know about Gale, but not Amy or that they liked each other." She admitted.  
  
"Man you never know what's going to happen in this place." Jubilee said to everyone. Even the boys who were listening upstairs were shocked.  
  
"Man I wish we could have seen that." Roberto said to them.  
  
"Well who hasn't gone yet?" Amara asked as things got back underway. Everyone looks to Rahne, who gulps.  
  
"Mind if I take this one girls?" Amy asked them. They all approve and she gets a smile on her face. "You know the question, so what's it going to be?"  
  
"Uh...truth." The young Scottish girl said.  
  
"Do you like my little brother?" Amy asks. "And I mean more then the friendly way too, cause I know for a fact he really likes ya."  
  
Rahne perk up a little at that. "Really? Well...I'm nae too sure, but I do like him...a lot." She said blushing a little.  
  
Amy smiled then. "That's good to know, I hate to see him get his heart broken."  
  
The girls decided they had enough of this and after looking at the clock realized that it was getting close to ten. They all had decided to change into their sleepwear then, in turns. So they took turns in no particular order to go and change then come back and so on.  
  
After a while it was Rogue's turn and after she had finished changing and exited the bathroom going back to the living room to the others. "You look mighty fine in that chere." Came an all too familiar voice.  
  
She turned to see Gambit by a corner smiling at taking the sight of her in her PJs too. "What do you want swamp-rat? Cause we're already been through this."  
  
"Oui, but d'at doesn't mean d'at women have changed d'eir minds in the past non?"  
  
Rogue scowled at him. "Not this time, sorry but you missed your chance a long time ago." She turned and walked off leaving Gambit to grin to himself. He always loved a challenge. He turned to walk off but hit something that felt like a steel wall.  
  
He stumbled back and was surprised to see Vincent in front of him, with a not too pleasant look on his face. Gambit may be a bit taller, and older then the other boy but what he saw in his demeanor and in his eyes gave him a chill.  
  
He remembered seeing eyes like the ones he saw now. They usually were on a few of the thieves he knew back home, even a few of the assassins. It wasn't a pleasant look and he even seen Logan with that too. "Look I know you're after Rogue, and I could do all the over-protective boy friend and do something like put you in the medical ward, but I'm not." Vince said to him.  
  
Remy was a little confused and a lot relieved at that. He'd seen what he could do and wasn't sure of his changes in an up front battle. "But I know for a fact if you don't leave her alone she'll most likely turn you into a pretzel and the fact that whatever is let will deal with me after."  
  
Remy thought about what he said, Rogue was a lot stronger and could easily do it. But even if he could charm his way out of it, there was no way he could charm him out of whatever he had planned though. "Well, Remy is used to pursuing de femes, and he likes to get what he wants. Let's be gentlemen about this an say may de best man win?"  
  
"No." Vince said. "Because you seem to forget that I already have won." With that he turned and walked off leaving Gambit there in the hall.  
  
Back in the living room the most of the girls had finished up changing while the other waited around for the bathroom down the hall to be free. "Hey Amanda why don't we just go up to our rooms?" Blink said to her.  
  
"Oh yeah, you know teleporting does have some great uses." She said smiling back to her friend. The boys above them suddenly knew in about two seconds the girls would in on to them.  
  
"Kurt get us out of here!" Roberto yelled and him, Ray, Bobby, and Sam latched onto him.  
  
"Get off, I can't take you all at once!" Kurt protested but then a flash and a portal opened up and they knew they were dead.  
  
The girls let out a yelp at seeing the boys in the room. "What are you guys doing in here? And what is that?" Amanda demanded, pointing at a device on the floor.  
  
"I wonder how long those two will be?" They heard Jubilee said from the device. Both girls turned to glare at the boys, who were paling in what they knew they were in for.  
  
"Clarice I think it's time to show them what happens when you spy on us." She said coldly. Blink nodded her head and created a few energy lances for teleportation.  
  
As the girls were waiting around Amanda and Blink brought all the boys down into the room. Amanda had a tight hold of Kurt so if he teleported she would be with him. "Guys what's going on?" Jean said to them.  
  
"We caught them hearing everything that was going on in our room." Blink said to them. The rest of the girls glared at the boys.  
  
"We are so dead." Bobby muttered.  
  
"No but your going to wish it." Jubilee said to her boyfriend. "Hey do we have any more of that stuff when he did make-overs?" She asked.  
  
"Hey can I go get my camera?" Dani asked them. "I really want to capture this on film."

* * *

**THITRY MINUTES LATER**  
  
Scott and Vincent were walking down the halls. "Is it me or is it too quiet lately?" Vince asked the older boy.  
  
Scott looked around for a second. "Yeah now that you mention it...that's not a good sign is it?"  
  
"Not likely." He admitted. Then to their amazement they saw the boys walking by. They all had on full bloom make-up that made Rogue, Tabitha and Wanda put together look conservative.  
  
Sam's hair was braided and looked to be dyed pink. Roberto was wearing a skirt and a tank top that looked like it was from one of the girls. Bobby had his nails pink and yellow and his hair was in curlers. Kurt was just as bad although it look like someone managed to dye his whole fur pink. Ray's hair was pinkish too now and was wearing of all thing a female tutu.  
  
The boys just walked past the two others who just started at the sight. "Did I just see that?" Scott asked.  
  
"Yes and I wish I hadn't, sometimes a photographic memory is a real pain and now I'll have even more nightmare now." He said looking at the horrid sight. "You know this actually might be funny if it wasn't so creepy looking."  
  
"That's it I'm going to bed and hope this is all over in the morning." Scott said to him.  
  
"I think I'll do that too, you can only take so much weirdness in one day." Vincent said shaking his head.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 11: THE TROUBLE WITH MAGIC**  
  
Illyana starts to have trouble with her powers, can she learn to control it before someone gets hurt? 


	11. The Trouble with Magic

Sparky Genocide: Well I'm not surprised you're not offended by femslash since you got that one fic. Hope you like it, but don't think Gambit will win out.  
  
X-TREM-X23: Glad you liked their punishment. I'll put her in a relationship eventually but I think she needs some time to get used to her freedom and new life, but thanks for the idea.  
  
celtcath74: Which Doc I've done several in my stories? Glad you found it funny.  
  
Ruby631: Glad you're back and I hope you had a good time.  
  
Ldypebsaby: Oh yeah blackmail is fun, well not for the boys at least. You'll find out where she'll end up later on.  
  
LadyDeathStrike1: No problem but I got a whole lot of characters to go through and not all of them can get equal time. But don't worry I got a Logan/X23 chapter coming up soon for ya. Illyana has stepping disk that can teleport her (like Blink) but she mainly has magic abilities  
  
BlackRoseApocalyps: So glad you like it, I wasn't sure how funny it was.  
  
Red Witch: Well they did have it coming glad you found it funny.  
  
The Uncanny R-Man: Yes I was you'll see a little of Selene in this and a little more later on too.  
  
AnthonyR: Thanks, and I try believe me I do, but work, plus writers block and other stories equals that not all stories get updated fast.  
  
DemonRogue13: Well let's just say he's thick headed.  
  
TheLegendaryManHimself: Never underestimate the resolve of several pissed off girls, but you still got to feel a little sorry, but only a little, the rest you can just laugh your ass off.

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS  
  
CHAPTER 11: THE TROUBLE WITH MAGIC**  
  
A couple of days had passed since the sleep over and everything was getting back to normal. The boys and the girls had made peace with each other, Amy and Gale were seeing a little more of each other for obvious reasons although they hadn't been on any official date as of yet.  
  
Illyana was getting used to her new life. It was different from her life in Russia and a whole lot better then when Magneto had her. Plus she and her brother were also making up for lost time. They talked, played and joked together, it was so good to see him again.  
  
It was a new morning and she was enjoying sleeping in. That is until her roommate started shaking her. "Wake up already." Gale told her. "How can one person sleep for so long I have no idea." She muttered to herself.  
  
"What?" Illyana asked Gale still slightly asleep.  
  
"We got training today and your going to miss breakfast." She stated.  
  
"Five more minutes." She said, only in Russian.  
  
Gale just snorted. "Forget this then." She said and then grabbed the covers and whipped them right off of her and put them on the ground. "There if you want the cover and go back to sleep you'll just have to get up first." She said grinning.  
  
Gale went off to breakfast leaving Illyana in her bed. After about a minute Illyana finally managed to get up. She stretched out her body and went to the bathroom to get ready. She turned the faucet for some water. It was a little warm and she wished it was a little more colder.  
  
Then she had to jerk her hands away from the sink. The water was freezing suddenly and then it turned to ice. Her first thought was Bobby, but how would he freeze her sink and not the entire water system. She turned on the shower and found it was fine.  
  
If it had been Bobby he would have had to freeze the main water pipe or something and that would freeze all the water. She was wondering how that had happened when she remembered how the fireplace burst into flames a few days ago.  
  
'Am I really doing this?' She wondered. 'Was Dr. Strange right in saying that my powers could be dangerous if untrained? NO! I won't go! I don't want to leave my brother and friends!' She silently screamed out.  
  
She sunk to the floor bringing up her knees to her chest and holding them. 'I can control this, I don't need to leave to learn how to control this.' She told herself.  
  
I took a little longer for her to get ready. Luckily it looked like the water was melting so she made sure the sink was turned off so it wouldn't overflow when she left. She walked alone down the halls and found the majority of the mutants in the dinning room with the long wooden table eating.  
  
She saw Sarah eating and at one moment snagged two sausages with her two claws and put them on her plate. Kitty saw this. "Eww. I like told Logan this, but those things will clog your arteries." Sarah just shrugged and went on eating.  
  
Illyana took an empty spot and started to dig in.  
  
"So how are things?" Her brother asked her from a few seats down.  
  
She brightened up. "After being in a cell for several months this is great." Piotr couldn't help but smile at his little sister. To him she was so full of life and had no idea what was troubling her, in fact no one did and she wanted to keep it that way. She liked it here and she didn't want to leave no matter what.  
  
"Hey. This seat taken?" She turned and saw Alex Summers gesture to the empty seat. She shook her head. She didn't know why but for awhile she always felt like her stomach had butterflies in it, and struggled to say anything around the tanned boy.  
  
He made her feel so light on her feet. Then she noticed the saltshaker slightly rise. Even the grains were floating. She quickly grabbed it before anyone noticed it. 'Damn it not now!' She silently cursed to herself.  
  
"Hey Illyana pass the salt." Ray said to her.  
  
She panicked a little but she calmed herself and passed it to him. "Hey this is pepper!" Ray's said. Illyana was shocked. She could have sworn it was salt, in fact she clearly remembered it being salt.  
  
"Alright listen up." Logan said to them all, everyone knew better then to go on when Logan had something to say. "We're going to have three separate training groups today." There were a few groans but he ignored them. "First up the X-Men, then the New Mutants and finally all the newbies since we need to know where to put you all."  
  
"Wanda, Piotr, Paige, Alex, Illyana, Gambit, and Sarah. You all will be last." He told them.  
  
"I'm telling you right now I am not wearing one of those recruit uniforms." Wanda said to him folding her arms.  
  
Logan sighed. "If you got somethin' to wear then wear it then, I'm not going through this whole uniform thing ever again." Then he looked to Illyana. "You might need extra training though in hand to hand and how to use a sword that you can use. Vincent think you can handle that since you know how to use a sword."  
  
He scratched his head thinking about it. "I don't know if I got the time. I mean with Jamie's training and that Paige asked me for lessons too, I don't know. Plus I use a katana and use a Japanese style. She's got a long sword and I don't know how to properly use that kind of weapon."  
  
"I could show her." Kurt spoke up and many people's attention was drawn to him. "Vell I do know how to fence, my papa taught me how and since Bayville doesn't have a fencing team I never send for mien swords I left back in Germany."  
  
Logan raised and eyebrow. "And you never told us this now?"  
  
Kurt just shrugged. "It never came up." He said in his defense.  
  
Illyana was a little nervous. She knew that the Soul Sword was a powerful weapon that she would have to learn to use since it was bonded to her. But she was also afraid of it. After everything that was going on she really didn't need the sword to go berserk on her.  
  
Later in the day the third group was entering the Danger Room. Wanda was in a reasonable replacement of her old uniform. Piotr was wearing his own uniform that he still had as did Gambit and Sarah especially since hers allowed for her claws. Paige, Alex, and Illyana were in the recruit uniforms.  
  
Logan was in the control room along with Hank overseeing the exercise. Logan spoke into the microphone. "Alright we're going to go slowly and move on up." He started up the Danger Room and already what he saw disappointed him. After a few minutes they were all going at it alone and only a few of them actually helped the others out.  
  
X23 since she also decided to use that as her codename, was going at it like she was berserk. "Energetic isn't she?" Hank said looking at her trashing all the equipment she was trashing with a look of range on her face.  
  
Logan grunted made a note to try and help the girl to control her anger. She was so much like he was before Charles had helped him. Wanda was doing well, she just needed to help with teamwork, something the Brotherhood never had. Alex and Paige was doing well considering they weren't that trained.  
  
Alex blasted the obstacles and Paige had ripped off her skin for a metallic one. She took a few hits but it must have been a dense metal so she was fine. Gambit and Piotr since they had worked together before made an interesting team.  
  
Gambit would take out the target from afar and Colossus went in close. Illyana he noticed stayed behind others the entire time. Then she got separated from the group and she froze for a moment.  
  
Then she summoned the sword. The blade instantly got the white flame and she attacked whatever she could. Her attacks were sloppy since she didn't know how to properly use a sword but she held her own when she used the flame from it to incinerate a few of the turrets going after her.  
  
Logan was looking them all over then something caught his eye. The fire off of Illyana's sword suddenly got intense and she was surrounded her and it grew even more. "Illyana hold it with the fire!" Wanda said jumping out of the way.  
  
"I-I can't stop it!" Then the fire broke off in several directions and became like living tentacles lashing out at everything. The others dodged them as best they could. Logan shut off the simulation but she was still going.  
  
Piotr yelled out to his sister and tried to get to her but he was hit by one of the white flaming tentacles and was sent into one of the walls. Illyana saw this and screamed. She didn't know how hurt her brother was but she tried everything to stop it. She just wanted it to go away.  
  
Then the flames suddenly started to reseed back into the sword. She thought she had done it. "Illyana look out! At your feet!" Alex cried out to her. She looked at him confused then saw a swirling energy being formed. The next thing she knew she had fallen throw it.  
**  
ACROSS TOWN**  
  
Selene was overlooking the construction of the new home for the Hellions. At the time of Illyana's uncontrolled use of the sword, Selene the immortal dark sorceress of the Hellfire club felt it all.  
  
She felt the power of the sword. "So it's been awakened." She said. It had been so long since she was in the presence of someone who wielded the blade. She knew that the sword chose it's users and she wasn't stupid enough to try and take that weapon from someone.  
  
But the fact that it was so close wasn't a good sigh. If someone had the sword and if they were that close then they could be either a powerful ally, or a very powerful enemy. If this person was an enemy this could be very big trouble for her and the Hellfire club.  
  
She quickly tried to focus on the power and where it was but as soon as it appeared it was gone again. 'I'm going to have to keep an eye out for that power again.' She thought to herself.  
**  
SOMEWHERE OTHER THEN EARTH**  
  
She found herself in a very dark place. She looked around and it was like a wasteland all around her. The sky if it could be called that was dark and murky. She had never been so scared in her life. This was like out of a nightmare and all she wanted was to get back home.  
  
Something moved off to the side and she looked. "Wh-wh-who's there." She asked frightened. A giant shadow moved and a huge un-humanly shape was coming towards her. AS it got closer she saw the most horrible thing she had ever seen, if she had to choose a word to describe it monster would be close. But demon was closer.  
  
It was huge, four armed, a dark purple with an ungly face with large teeth. It growled at her and She wanted nothing more then to get away. 'I just want to o home!' She shouted in her mind and once again the energy disk thing that took her here appeared as the creature lunged at her.  
  
She fell through it just in time. As she looked around her new surroundings she gasped. She was back at her family farm in Russia. It was abandoned and grass and weeds had grown everywhere. The blackened home that had been destroyed by a fire that took the lives of her parents stood in front of her.  
  
She walked in. She couldn't help herself it had been so long and it was the only home she had known growing up, all her childhood was in this burnt out husk of a home. She looked around and it seemed like the ghost of the past haunted this place.  
  
He could remember her parents sitting at the table eating and laughing. She walked down the small hall and looked into her room now nearly stripped bare of all items. She remembered how her brother would read to her as a child in her bead. She sat down on her bed.  
  
Her parents were gone now, and now she only had her brother left in the world. She missed the old days when things were so simple and easy. She wanted to be held in her mother's arms just once more and for her to tell her it will be all right, and that everything was fine.  
  
She felt the tears coming down her face. They would never be the same, not anymore. Her life had chanced now forever and there was nothing that could chance it back to the way it was. She saw something at the bottom of the bed sticking out. She reached down and picked it up.  
  
It was a ragged old teddy bear, her's to be exact. She remembered getting it for Christmas all those years ago. She hugged it close to her chest. She thought she had lost it in the fire, but the fire hadn't reached her room totally. It was slightly damaged but it could be fixed.  
  
This was the only thing she had of her old life now. She looked around the rest of the house but found nothing interesting. She had hoped a photo had survived but couldn't find one. She stepped out into the morning light. Then a thought had hit her.  
  
It was still daylight in Bayville how could the sun be out in Russia? She put it aside and thought how could she get back. Then an idea hit her it was risky but she had to try it. She would try and focus on the Institute and hope that whatever it was that kept moving her around would do it again.  
  
She took a few breaths and concentrated as hard as she could. She could feel the energy of the disk now and felt herself fall. This time she landed in the foyer of the Institute but it was night.  
  
"Illyana!" Came several voices. She turned and found Tabitha, Sam and Roberto looking at her like a ghost.  
  
"Where have you been?" Sam asked her. "Piotr has been worried sick and you all been gone for two days!"  
  
"Two days!?" Illyana said shocked. "But-but, I was just gone for under an hour. How could I have lost two days?" She pleaded with them. They didn't have an answer and now she was more confused and frightened then ever.

* * *

**  
NEXT UP CHAPTER 12: THE DOCTOR IS IN**  
  
Dr. Strange makes his return, and will Illyana have to give up her life at the Institute? 


	12. The Doctor is in

Sparky Genocide: I was curious what can I say? I loved Danger Girls and Gen- 13 and I hated when they cancelled the books. Yes he is making an appearance the question is, is he going to leave alone?  
  
celtcath74: Actually I just forgot about her, thanks for reminding me about her.  
  
Ruby631: You will, but I don't have the same amount of time to work now, so my updates my not be as fast as they used to be.  
  
Ldypebsaby: Don't worry something will be worked out.  
  
X-TREM-X23: Sure thing, and I got a few more things planned you might like also.  
  
LadyDeathStrike1: Thanks, and I wanted to I but I wanted to focus on Illyana this chapter more.  
  
BlackRoseApocalyps: Yeah I know, which is why I'm having Logan do it, since he's the only one that could survive it.  
  
Red Witch: What again?! I haven't had a vacation in years and you take on every week now. What is it that you do that you can afford to take yet another one?  
  
The Uncanny R-Man: Just a random demon for mow at least. Selene will have a little completion in the rivalry department also.  
  
TheLegendaryManHimself: No I don't have plans to kill her off. And I do have someone in mind for Blink. You'll see a little Kitty/Pietro in this chapter and their relationship will grow from that point on in the series.

* * *

**  
ADJUSTMENTS  
  
CHAPTER 12: THE DOCTOR IS IN  
  
**It was the morning after her first Danger Room session. Everyone especially her brother had been worried about her and Piotr didn't want to leave her alone that night, for fear that she might disappear again. There was a part of her that kind of wished he had, he always made her feel safe.  
  
She didn't sleep in this morning she had spent the majority of the night thinking. Even though her brother was fine after the sword went nuts she still could have seriously hurt him or the others. And the fact it seemed these powers of hers were getting more and more out of control.  
  
She knew she couldn't control them without help, if she went on like this someone would get hurt, or worse. She had agonized over a decision and she had to see Xavier about it as soon as she could.  
  
"Are you alright Yana?" Gale asked. She could feel the emotions coming of the girl in waves.  
  
"I...I just had to make a decision is all, I think I know what needs to be done." Illyana said. There was a note of sadness in her voice and Gale picked up on her emotional state too. Illyana was quiet through her breakfast not really eating that much and as soon as it was over she slowly made her way to the Professor's study. She was about to knock when she heard the Professor call her in. She opened the door and saw that Xavier was looking over some papers.  
  
"Please sit down." He said with that gentle voice of his. Illyana took a seat nervously. She was about to make a huge decision that could very well effect the rest of her life and at this moment she had two choices, but she knew exactly what was what she had to do and that wasn't what she wanted to do though.  
  
Outside Piotr was sitting in the sun. He was on the cliff side watching the water of the large body of water behind the Institute. He was deep in thought about his sister, when she had disappeared he thought he might never see her again. After going through that once already it was hard to go through it all again.  
  
Even though his life was a lot better here then with Magneto. He wasn't being force to do things he felt horrible about, in fact he was miserable the entire time he had been working there. Now as he looked at the water he felt a type of peace here he never felt before, but ever since his sister's Danger Room session he was hard pressed to find that peace.  
  
He was engrossed in his thoughts he didn't notice someone walked up behind him. "Are you like alright?" Piotr was startled and turned to see Kitty standing there behind him.  
  
"I am...fine thank you." He said to her. Kitty wasn't convinced so the sat down next to him.  
  
"Come on I'm like smarter then I let on and I know you must be worried about your sister."  
  
Piotr sighed. "You are right...after so long of wondering where my sister was to finally have her back and then her powers going crazy and her missing for days before she showed up again...I am worried that she might disappear again and then I may never see her again."  
  
Kitty places a hand on his shoulder her face full on concern. "You really care about your sister don't you?"  
  
"Da, she is the only family I have left in the world." He said sadly as he remembered the fire that took the lives of his father and mother. It had happened in the night and he was able to get his sister out in time but as for their parents...they were not so lucky.  
  
"Don't worry about it and like I'm sure she'll be fine especially with a brother like you looking after her." She told him smiling.  
  
Piotr smiled slightly. "Thank you."  
  
Kitty noticed something on the ground next to him. It was a black book and there was a small metallic case several inches long. "Like what are those?"  
  
He shifted a little. "Those are...my drawing supplies." He admitted.  
  
"You draw?" She asked excited. He nodded, he had never really shown anyone else his work other then his family and was a little nervous what other people thought. "Can I take a look?" He shrugged and Kitty took the book and flipped through the once blank pages.  
  
She was amazed at the skill and the beauty in them. "Wow...these are like really, really, good."  
  
"Thank you Kitty." He said kindly to her.  
  
Kitty went through other pages and near the end she found drawings of the Institute, the grounds even some of the people there, then she saw one of her. It was of her shoulders on up and it caught her breath. She looked beautiful in the image, better then she thought she looked but she didn't know why, nothing was added for exaggerated as far as she could tell but it was.  
  
She stared at the picture. Piotr noticed what she was looking at and was beginning to get a little nervous that she didn't like it. "Is...is this how you see me?" Kitty asked quietly still staring at the image.  
  
"I-I just draw what I see." He simply stated blushing a little, he wasn't used to talking with many people and he always had a slight shyness around girls, growing up on a farm out of the way, there wasn't many other people around other then his family. Kitty closed the book and handed it back to him.  
  
A small smile broke out on her face then. "Really?" He nodded and she blushed slightly. "Well you're like very talented." She said playing with one of her bangs. It was a nervous habit she had at times. She didn't know he was so talented in that and he was really a nice and polite boy once you got to know him and get past his shy and slightly reclusive exterior.  
  
She forgot how not long ago he was working for Magneto although it was under duress, he was actually a very nice guy, not to mention kind of cute too she admitted to herself.  
  
"Hey you two!" Came a shout from behind them. They both turned to see Amara running over to them. "Illyana had something to tell everyone and we're all going to meet in the living room." Said the princess, slightly out of breath from running over to them from the mansion.**  
****  
INSIDE**  
  
Everyone had gathered around, well as best as they could with over thirty people but luckily the place was just big enough. Illyana was standing around the center of the group feeling very nervous at the moment. "First off I would like to say I love it here and you all have been great...but...after what happened I came to realize that I need help with my powers." Her head slightly dropped. "But I can't get that help here...so...I decided to take Dr. Strange up on his offer."  
  
"Illyana no!" Piotr said going to his feet and going to his sister. "I just found you...I...I don't want to lose you again."  
  
"You won't lose me, I talked with Dr. Strange over the phone and he's coming over to pick me up. He said I can visit here when I got free time, and call too. We will see each other, it's just...not as often." Both siblings had tears starting to fall on their faces. Piotr hugged his little sister close to him and she hugged him back.  
  
It was later on in the day and Illyana was packing her things with Gale's help. Gale was sadden like most of the students at her leaving. "I can't believe I'm losing another roommate." She said to herself. "I must be a jinx." She said shaking her head.  
  
"You are not a jinx." Illyana said. "It's " She said shrugging.  
  
"Are you okay with this?" Gale asked her. "I mean leaving and all?"  
  
Illyana stopped backing and sighed. "I don't want to leave...but I have to you know?" Gale thought back to when her own mutation had just started and how she couldn't push the emotions of others out. She didn't want to leave her father and her home, but she had to. And it turned out quite well for her. Gale had many friends, a lot more control, leaning a lot of interesting things from Mr. McCoy and she was seeing a girl she really liked and soon hoping to actually go on a real date soon.  
  
"Yes I do." Gale said to her and she silently whished her just as good fortune and she had.  
  
About an hour later Dr. Strange showed up, as usual it was in a portal and not from a taxi or anything. Ororo was the one that met him first in the foyer. "Don't you ever travel anywhere normally Dr. Strange?" She asked smirking slightly.  
  
He smiled back to her. "Yes well it's fast, no traffic and I don't have to waste money on car payments, insurance or gas. You'd be amazed how much I've saved from all of that."  
  
Ororo led the doctor into the study with Illyana and Xavier waiting. "It's nice to see you again Illyana." Strange said to her. She politely nodded back him but he could see the gloomy look on her face.  
  
Next walked up to the girl and placed his hands on her shoulders. She looked up into his face. "I know this was a difficult decision for you. But you will not have to spend your entire life learning under me, in fact after you learn control and a few helpful things I think it would be perfectly fine for you to return here and study with me only a few times a week."  
  
Illyana's face lit up. "Really? How soon can I come back?"  
  
"That all depends on you." He said. Then he took a few steps back. "Now I need to judge the power you have over the blade. I was able to pick up your little...incident a few days ago from the sudden burst of power, so please a small demonstration if you will."  
  
She was a little hesitant, and looked to Xavier he nodded his head and she took a breath. She called forth the sword and the flames came to the blade almost immediately. Then they started to grow and she could feel it, she tried to fight it but it only got more, and more out of control, she was started to panic again.  
  
"Illyana don't fight the blade that's what causes it to be uncontrollable." Strange told her.**  
  
****La Isla des Demonas**  
  
A small island in the middle of nowhere. This wasn't any ordinary island it was the home of Neyaphem. Azazel was in his main chamber, it was of course lavishly decorated and he was behind a huge desk looking over the daily operations of his organization when he felt it.  
  
It had been centuries since such magic was unleashed. "Well, well. Twice in one week, I think whoever has that sword is either very inexperience or is fighting some nasty critters." But it had disappeared again.  
  
He made a note to look into that but first he had something else to do. Soon two of his most loyal and trusted minons entered the room. It was Captain Exposition and Jillian. "Ah Jillian how are you doing, all healed up?" He was glad when he left the others had retrieved her.  
  
"Yes." He said angrily, she was still pissed off that she had been defeated by Amanda Sefton, and had vowed to herself to get that girl back one day.  
  
"Well it seems things have changed since I was gone. Everyone seems to have their own group. Magneto has his growing army, Xavier and his X-kids, and now the Hellfire group has those Hellions." Azazel said standing up and moving to them. "So I've decided to start my own and you two will be among this elite group."  
  
Both of them smiled proudly at this new information.  
  
"Plus I got at least two others for the job. Captain you of course will be in charge and Jillian will be your second."  
  
"Yes my Lord. Who are the two others we will be having?" The captain asked. The door opened. Two people came walking in. One was tall and had many tattoos on his face, and had a mane of dark hair. The other was dark and seemed to have no face. Plus his body seemed to be nearly coil like. As if he was made from springs.  
  
"Ah tow of my favorite sons." Azazel said. "Welcome Abyss and Kiwi Black."  
  
"Thank you father." Both of them said as one.**  
****  
XAVIER'S**  
  
Illyana had thankfully stopped the sword before any damage was going to be done and Piotr and many of the students were saying their goodbyes to Illyana. It was sad to leave her new home but she was also looking forward to actually controlling the sword and her newly awakened magic abilities.  
  
Dr. Strange waited until she and her brother had said their final goodbyes and opened a portal for them to step thought. Illyana took her bags and gave once last look to everyone and smiled a little then she stepped through.  
  
After she had left the others disbanded. Piotr however went to the back steps and sat down looking up into the setting sun. "You doing alright?" Kitty asked as she sat down next to him.  
  
"She has already just left and I miss her already." He said sadly.  
  
"Do you want to be alone?" She asked him.  
  
"No...I could use some company." He admitted. She smiled and she sat with him watching the setting sun, and soon found herself resting her head on his shoulder and soon he rested his on her head slightly and they sat there in silence as the sun set and the sky darkened.

* * *

******  
NEXT UP CHAPTER 13: ANGER MANAGMENT**  
  
Also Exiles has been updated so please take a look and review when you got the time. 


	13. Anger Management

Sparky Genocide: Yes he will help her out, and it's mainly for Wanda and X23. I mean if you could pick two people with issues I think they would be near the top.

Becca : Well I do know they're a couple in Exiles, but I've never read Exiles (which is ironic since I'm writing an Exiles fic with Uncanny R-Man) or the comics unfortunately so I might not use him. And thanks for the support.

LadyDeathStrike1: Basically yes. She tears off her skin and there's another one underneath depending on what she wants there.

celtcath74: Well Alpha Flight was introduced way back in Enter Mayhem so they might show up, plus look out for SHIELD's new team.

Ruby631: Don't worry I'm using the original members so those two will be in it.

Pyros-gal: Well I hope you read the previous ones, you did see the author's note that said this was 6th in a series right?

Ldypebsaby: Eventually yes those two will hook up. And this is a Wands and X23 chapter.

BlackRoseApocalyps: Yeah he'll have his hands full that's for sure.

jadestar123: Eventually yes they will get together.

The Uncanny R-Man: Don't forget I'm putting in Wanda too as a focus so you know this will get good.

Thanks to: DemonRogue13

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 13: ANGER MANAGEMENT**

Wanda was going to her room for some piece and quiet. The one problem with living in this place was that there were too many people around to get a moment's peace. It didn't help matters she and Bobby got grounded for the weekend and had to stay at the mansion for several days and had extra training session. It wasn't her fault. Bobby had iced up her only pair of shoes so she hexed him in her anger.

Okay so she knew she had a few issues and all the studying she had to do to catch up to the others so when she went to Bayville High with the others so she would be caught up were getting on her nerves. She hated that. She didn't have to go to school when she was with the Brotherhood, but then again the Brotherhood under Mystique and her father weren't too concerned with their future, just what they could do for them.

She opened the door and walked in on Rogue and Vincent making out on Rogue's bed. "God can't you two do that somewhere else!" Wanda nearly shouted and walked over to her side of the room.

The two broke apart Vince blushing slight but Rogue was just pissed. "Hey it was mah room long before ya showed up!"

"Well excuse me! It's not like I wanted to share a room, especially not with you!" She yelled back.

Vincent held his face in his hands and groaned. He looked up at the two girls. "Could you two please not get into it again? I mean you two were doing so well."

"Shut up!" Both of them said while glaring at him. They continued yelling at each other, the lights started to flicker slightly from Wanda's rage.

"That's it!" Both girls were startled to be suddenly picked up by Vincent and put onto one of the beds.

"Vince what the Hell are ya-"Rogue tried to ask but he cut her off.

"Look." He said sharply. "I know you two got issues, maybe it's because you both feel threatened by the other cause you both use to be the angst ridden Goth girl for your own teams and now your both not as unique as you used to be I don't know, but I'm fed up with all of this fighting, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this."

He looked at the two girls. Rogue was too much in shock at his outburst and stern demeanor to say anything. "Look Wanda you seem like a nice person deep down. You wouldn't have helped us if you weren't. Rogue...I love ya, but this has got to stop. Now I don't care what it takes but you two are going to sit in here and find some way of at least tolerating each other."

"Vince." Rogue said but he placed a finger up in a warning gesture.

"Now look I'm going to go cool off and I suggest you two work this out." He said to them and then stormed out of the room. Both the girls were left just sitting there for a moment.

"This is all your fault!" They both said.

Outside the mansion, Sarah was leaning against a tree. She enjoyed the outdoors and the woods of the Institute were a nice calming place. "Heads up!" A shout sounded and she opened her eyes just in time to see a Frisbee fly into her face.

The others there either winced at seeing her hit in the face or looked a little afraid. Sarah on the other hand was rubbing her face where it had hit her. She looked on the grass and saw what had hit her then looked angrily at the others there. She let out a growl and had a sneer on her face.

Bobby being the one who shouted out the warning stepped forward consciously. "Hey Sarah are you alright?"

She popped out her claws at the boy, he stepped back too quickly and ended up falling on his butt. "Hey it wasn't on purpose, just chill!" He said holding up his hands in defensively.

"Sarah." Said a gruff and commanding voice. She turned to see Logan walking towards them. She put her claws back in. Logan stopped when he was a few feet from her and stared at the girl for a few seconds. He turned to Bobby. "Get going frost bite." He said and Bobby didn't need to be told twice.

Logan looked back at his daughter. He had no clue how to be a real father and this was new territory for him. He could see that she was a little angry and even a little ashamed. "What happened?" He asked her.

"I...I just got angry." She said to him she was also avoiding his gaze.

Logan sighed. "You're going to learn to control your tempter kid."

"I'm trying!" She yelled out, Logan raised an eyebrow. "I'm-I'm trying my best but this is all new to me. All my life people have been trying to take everything away from me leaving me nothing inside, for the longest time all I had was my anger. Now I got all these new emotions I'm letting out and it's confusing, I don't know what's going on anymore." He could see tears swelling in her eyes and his expression softened.

"I'm trying to fit in and be normal but it's hard." Her shoulders slumped and Logan placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to man that was now her father.

"Kid I know what it's like. I used to be like you at one point but Xavier helped me to control my anger, and I want to do the same." He smiled at her. "So tell you what in an hour I got some free time and we'll go to the Danger Room and I can show you a way to let out all that anger."

She nodded her head and he smiled down at her. After that she felt like being alone. The mansion being so crowded she searched the grounds. She found a path that led to the water down the cliff face. She could see a small dock there in the distance and figured that was a good place to go. Then she caught a sent from there.

"Isn't there anyplace where I can be alone?" She asked herself, but it was only one sent so she figured he might leave her alone. She walked to the dock and saw Vincent there with a pile of flat stones. She saw him skipping them across the water. She had never seen that done before, and she never knew a stone could do that.

Vincent seemed to noticed her. "Came for a little fresh air?"

She just shrugged. "I just needed to get away for a little while." Vincent nodded his head.

He gestured next to him. "Take a seat I'm just calming myself down here."

She raised her eyebrow. "You need to calm down?" She asked not believing it. He seemed like a good, happy kind of guy to her.

He laughed at her comment. "Well you haven't known me long, I do have a slight temper. I just got fed up with Rogue and Wanda going at it...again." Sarah nodded her head. If there was anyone that had issues that could match the ones she had, then it was those two.

**Rogue & Wanda's Room.**

Back in their room the two girls were on their respective beds. "Why are we still here?" Wanda asked. "It's not like he'd just pick us up and put us back right?" Rogue was silent and Wanda sat up and looked at her. "Right?"

Rogue shrugged. "He might ah guess. Depends on how much he thinks we need this."

"Great." She muttered. She was tempted to hex him but she was already in trouble for that and she didn't need to have to do something like wash the X-Jet for a week. She had heard of that and some of the other types of punishment that got handed out.

It was different to be in a place that had consequences, unlike the Brotherhood. Plus it felt normal to be in a place where people cared enough to try and set an example and to even punish you if you got out of line. She never had that, and she guessed this was how a real family was supposed to work.

"Do you think he was right about us?" Wanda asked Rogue out of the blue. "About us being 'threatened' by each other?"

Rogue thought about it. "Well...ah will admit that I liked bein' the only Goth. But it's not like we're the same."

"Yeah, I mean you like to wear green and black and I'm more of a red and black." Wanda said offering her own two cents.

"Plus even though both our parents are lying, evil jerks we're not the same." Rogue said crossing her arms.

"You forgot manipulative, power hungry and a total lack of any parental skills." Wanda said to her.

"Oh yeah I forgot about that." Rogue agreed. "Ah mean they said they care about us but what do they do? They lie and manipulate us and then use us." She said angrily.

"Yeah and if we don't do what we're told to do they use telepaths on us." Wanda growled out.

"Tell meh about it!" Rogue said throwing her arms into the air. "Ah mean you of all people know what it's lahke to have someone mess with your head, it's not fun."

"No it isn't." Wanda said darkly remembering her own experiences. There was a moment of silence then. "Are we...bonding?" Wanda asked slowly.

Rogue groaned. "Oh God I think we are...but...it is nice to talk to someone about all of this who understands."

Wanda was silent for a moment. "Yeah...it is." She said looking out the window.

**AT THE DOCK**

Vincent had been showing Sarah how to skip stones as they talked. "You know you remind me of me when I was younger." Vince told her. Sarah turned with a surprised expression on her face. "I'm serious. After I got out of the lab and then after a year on the streets, when I got to the orphanage I was reclusive, didn't talk much and was unsure about everything."

"So...what happened?" She asked.

"Well I had two friends who never gave up on me." He told her a smile growing on his face at the memories. "It took time but I eventually found out how to fit in...but it took time and I'm sure you can do it. Just be patient and take it slow."

She thought about it all. Him and Logan had gone through the same experience but they both had time to adjust to the outside world. "Sometimes I think it was easier when I was on my own." She says.

Vincent gets a sad look on his face at her comment. "It is easier on your own, you don't have all the complications being in a group have...but I would never go back to it. Once your truly alone in the world and then find people who accept you and want to be around you, you never want to go back to that empty feeling always inside of you."

She thought about it. Being alone out in the wilderness she had had a empty feeling inside of her. Now here even though it was chaotic she didn't have that emptiness anymore. When Logan said he wanted to be her father she had never felt so filled with emotions that she had never felt before. And she liked what she had felt.

She realized that an hour must have passed by then and she might already be late. "Well I got to go...but...thanks." She said. She heard that you should be polite to people at times and saying 'thanks' was appropriate.

He smiled and nodded to her still skipping the stones. Vince took one stone and put a little something extra into it and it skipped more times then Sarah could follow, plus at the speed and distance was impressive.

She decided to run back to the Institute to burn off some energy and to get loosened up. She found Logan by tracking him down by his scent easily enough, even with all the others living here.

She jogged up to him and he got a smirk on his face from seeing her already slightly breathing hard from a little workout. "Well get suited up cause we're heading for the Danger Room." He told her. A small feral smile went on her face, and she raced up to her room to chance.

Logan shook his head. The Danger room was one of the only places were he could let loose and it looked like she must think that too. She really was like him he had to think. Later when they were both suited up and were squared off in the Danger Room they faced each other.

"Alright for me I had to learn to either suppress or at least curve my own anger and you got to learn the same because first off you might hurt someone on the team and you can make a mistake out in the field and an enemy could take advantage of that and you could get seriously hurt." He began.

"But wasn't I wining that fight we had when we first met?" She said with a little smile of triumph.

Logan snorted. "First you had surprise, secondly I wasn't trying to hurt ya, and lastly you ended up crying on me at the end of that." The smile on her face disappeared at that and then it was Logan's turn to smile.

"So if you think you can take me let's go then." Logan said unleashing his claws. "Now your going to learn to at least to control your anger and you'll do it against me." Sarah got a larger smile on her face and unleashed her hand claws.

'Now don't go easy on the girl, she may not have your adamantium skeleton, but she's tough.' Logan thought to himself as they circled each other. 'I just hope she can learn some control or this is going to get painful...or me mostly.'

**INSIDE THE MANSION**

While Wolverine and X23 were in their Danger Room session, Vincent thought it was time to check in on the girls. He just hoped they had worked out a truce at least. When he knocked then opened the door he was surprised to them already talking, and they weren't shouting or trying to kill each other. In fact in looked like they were actually having a nice time.

"Well I didn't expect this." He said slightly in shock of what he saw. The two girls stopped their conversation when they noticed he had gotten in. "Please tell me you two have found some common ground or something?"

The two girls looked at each other then Rogue spoke up. "Well ah guess we have found a few things we can relate on."

"Yeah, but son't go and expecting us to be great friends or nothing." Wanda told him. "But we did reach an understanding...so...I guess we can't get back at you for this." She muttered.

Rogue walked up and her pleasant face turned serious and slightly pissed. "But if ya ever do somethin' lahke that again ah don't care what memories ah get, ah'll drain ya." She warned him.

"And I'll hex you into the next state." Wanda said just as fiercely. Vincent gulped at the mental images. Not much could scare him in this world but having those two pissed at him...well that would scare any sane person.

"Crystal clear." He said as he backed out of the room.

Ororo was leading a small group of the New Mutants to the Danger Room for a little training exercise. So far it was the newer recruits, Paige, Blink, Dani, Alex, Gale and Amanda. So far since Piotr, Wanda and Gambit showed the most skills and experience they were going to be in a more advanced lesson.

"Shouldn't Sarah be here too?" Paige asked Ororo.

"I tried to find her but I didn't know where she was." Ororo explained. She went to open the door and it suddenly opened by itself. At least that's what she thought when both Logan and Sarah staggered out of the DR room. Both of their clothing was shredded and there were places were there was dried blood too.

"What in the name of the Goddess were you two doing in there?!" Ororo nearly shouted out as she saw them.

"It's alright Ro, we heal real fast." Logan chocked out.

"Mr. Logan are you alright?" Blink asked at the sound of his voice.

"Yeah she just crushed my windpipe and it's still healing." He managed to say. Sarah nodded obviously she too was still healing. "I was just trying to help Sarah to get in touch of her anger and to start learning to control it."

"I see." Ororo said looking at the two of them. "At least tell me you two are going to see Hank just to be sure?"

"Why?" Logan asked her like she just asked a stupid question, she just shook her head as the two shuffled off.

"Please tell me when we got training sessions with him they're not going to be THAT extreme?" Alex said looking at the two of them go off.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 14: THE NEW ENEMIES**

Yep they X-Men learn about Emma and Selene and that they might have a new group to contend with.


	14. New Enemies

Sparky Genocide: Well those two are getting along but it won't exactly be perfect the entire time. I didn't get the current comics so I'm going with the original team as best as I can.

X-TREM-X23: Computer problems I completely understand and I was thinking of writing what happened...but that would be extremely violent and I'm not sure I could do it justice.

Supergirlhv: Well those two will get a long better but not perfectly the entire time, it wouldn't be interesting if I did. :)

Red Witch: Only two bad guys so far but they're just the beginning.

SiriusAboutMarauders: Thanks for the kind words, and believe me I don't really like OOC so I try my best to stay true to the characters.

slickboy444: No problem you got some good stuff and I'm glad I heard from ya, I also hope you read all the back stories so you're not lost. You'd be amazed at how many people don't realize this is 6th in a series.

The Uncanny R-Man: Yeah it was too good not to use, and it was that or he had a healing scar over his throat, but the other was less violent. Oh yeah it will be interesting especially Emma and Jean and when Selene meets Amara too.

Thanks to: TheLegendaryManHimself, celtcath74, DemonRogue13, ldypebsaby, Ruby631

* * *

**  
ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 14: THE NEW ENEMIES**

Paige was looking for something to do lately. Her brother was out with his friends while Tabitha his girlfriend was out too. She liked Tabitha, she was not like anyone from her hometown and she was a lot of fun and she loved getting all the dirt on her brother from her.

"Hey Paige." She turned to see Jamie coming up to her. "I-uh-I remembered you were interested in the training sessions I get with Vincent...so...do you want to join in or watch or something?"

She smiled at him. Jamie was a kind boy and also a lot of fun. Being the same age they could relate to the more to each other then the others, okay so she found him cute too, and she did enjoy that kiss she gave him on that dare. "Sure thing, should ah change or something?"

"Uh...anything in sweats should do." He said.

"Great, ah'll be right there." She said and ran off. Jamie couldn't help but watch her go. He was close to fourteen and so far he was thinking a lot about Paige lately. She was fun to be with, and it was great having someone around his own age so he didn't feel like he was the baby of the group.

Okay he also though she was pretty and wasn't girly like Kitty. Sure he had kind of a crush on Kitty for about a week during that concert thing but he grew out of it quickly. He still thought about that kiss she gave him. He knew it was just on a dare, but it was his first kiss and he had liked it.

He quickly went to change and Met up with Vincent in the gym. He was in time to see him already doing some katras. "Hey Vince...do you mind if Paige joins us?" He asked the older boy.

Vincent stopped hi movements and considered it. "Well first thing is I have to ask her how serious she'll take this."

"Ah'll take it really seriously." Paige said from the door. She was in sweat pants, a white T-Shirt and her hair pulled back into a ponytail. Jamie couldn't help but gulp slightly at her appearance. Vince went up to her and studied her intently with his serious 'teaching' expression he had that he tried to emulate from his own sensei.

"Alright then. Jamie have one of your copies show her some Katras while I work with you." He said to the young boy. Jamie nodded and punched his fist just hard enough for one copy. Normally he had trouble with exact numbers but he had been working on it.

**MEANWHILE**

Across town Jean and Scott were enjoying some time to themselves. They were walking down downtown Bayville just enjoying the day. They had their arms around each other's waist and they felt a sense of contentment plus it was nice to get out of the mansion every now and then it was nice to get out of the mansion.

It could get a little crowded and Xavier said the renovations for the expansions would start next week if possible. It was hard for him to find a company that could or would do it. But the two young adults just wanted a moment alone with each other.

They were in a good enough mood they even ignore some of the dirty looks they got. Ever since mutants were exposed to the world their lives were so different then they were now. But they bore the burden well enough.

"Scott." Jean said to him. "Do you think going to collage is going to be easier then high school?"

Scott knew what she was talking about. She was refereeing to how they would be treated then the workload. Scott sighed. "I honestly don't know...but we should hope for the best..."

"And plan for the worse." She finished with a smile. Scott had to smile too at the connection they had. For the past few months they had gotten so close to each other in their lives. They also had a mental bond going as well. They weren't sure when it started but they could now 'feel' each other's constant presence.

It was nice to have a feeling of someone always there for you, and they could tell when the other was in trouble or something was wrong, but also when they were close like this it seemed like their happiness merged with each other, enhancing it.

"Awww well isn't that cute." Said a cultured and silky voice. The two teens turned to a café and on one of the chairs by an outdoor table was sitting a teen roughly their own age dressed all in white leather jeans, and a sleeveless designer top on. She also had long flowing white hair.

Both Jean and Scott looked at each other in surprise. There was something familiar about the girl and they both felt it. "Well if it isn't the competition." She said in a stuck up kind of way. "Not that it's much competition." Then she looked at Scott studying him. "But at least the red head has excellent tastes."

Jean felt a slight surge of over protectiveness for her boyfriend and this girl looking him over. "Wait a minute." Scott said his face in concentration. "Emma Frost?" Jean suddenly realized why she seemed so familiar.

"Wha-HOW DID YOU KNOW MY NAME?" Emma said surprised. She didn't sense the telepath going into her head and the Hellfire Club hadn't relived themselves to Xavier or his students yet.

"We've met...sort of." Scott told her. Little did Emma know about the disaster with Forge's teleported and how they ended up jumping into a few different realities and they had met and adult one that was at the Institute. [AN: read Reality Trip for details]

"Well anyway." Emma said paying her bill and getting up. "No matter how ever you know about me, it changes nothing." She got her purse and stood up and walked over to the two of them. "The world needs the best to lead it, and we are the best of the best so stay out of our way." She said warning them.

Then she gave one last look at Scott and winked. "See you later handsome, and if you're bored with red heads don't be afraid to look me up." She said with a grin and as she passed Scott slapped him one on his butt.

Scott jumped at the unexpected contact and Jean clenched her jaw and glared daggers at the back of the blonde's head. "I..._really_...hate that woman already." Jean said between clenched teeth.

**ELSEWARE**

Tabitha, Amara, and Wanda were walking to the ruins of the old Brotherhood place. "Why are you two taking me there again?" Wanda asked. It was the first day off being grounded and she wondered why Tabitha had dragged them out here.

"Well, I just figured we could use some closure on the place. I mean I'm a former member of the Brotherhood too." Tabitha said to the Gothic girl.

"But I wasn't." Amara said. "Why am I here?" She said to Tabitha who had dragged her out too.

"Well you're here for emotional support." Tabitha told her. Seeing the look the two other girls were giving her Tabby sighed. "Alright I just figured we all could get out of the house and Amara, you need to get out more, you've been a little depressed lately."

"I have not." She said crossing her arms and turning her head.

"Hey even I don't know you that well and I can see it." Wanda said to the Nova Roma Princess.

Amara gave a sharp look but then it died. She uncrossed her arms and sighed. "Well why not? I mean I miss my parents, and now it seems almost everyone has paired off and I hate being one of the single girls. I just want to have someone care for me like Jean has Scott. Rogue has Vincent, Gale even has Amy and you got Sam. I just feel left out."

"Hey I'm single too." Wanda said slightly annoyed.

"Sorry." Amara said. "I'm just sick of being single at the moment."

"Well tell you what." Tabitha said to the two girls. "Why don't we get all the single girls and go out on the town and try to pick up some guys."

Both Wanda and Amara exchanged panicked looks. They really didn't like the look in Tabitha's eyes. "Uh...that's fine, I can handle it." Wanda told her.

"Yes so can I." Amara said quickly. "Hey look we're here." She said pointing. The three of them were surprised by what they saw. Instead of the ruins of the old Brotherhood boarding house they saw a construction crew working on the foundation of a new large building.

"I guess they couldn't wait to build over it." Wanda said with a hint of anger in her voice looking at it all.

Amara looked at a sign nearby and read what was on it. "Future site of the Hellion School of Excellence." She said to them.

"Wonder what that is supposed to mean?" Tabitha said looking at it.

"That my dear is the future." Came a female voice from behind them. All three turned to face the voice and saw a tall beautiful woman with long black hair in an all black business suit. "Well, well, well. Look what we have here." She said grinning slightly. There was something slightly disturbing about the way she was looking at them.

"And who exactly are you lady?" Wanda demanded not really phased by the woman.

She just smiled at her wickedly. "Why not ask you're little Nova Roma friend there?" She told them pointing at Amara. Both girls looked and were surprised to see the color drained from Amara's face. She looked more frightened then Tabitha could ever remember seeing her.

Amara was shaking slightly and her eyes were huge with fear. "Mara what's wrong? What is it?" Tabitha said filled with concern for her best friend.

"Yes why don't you tell them who a I am." She said and took a few steps forward. As she did Amara retreated a few steps away from her, unable to speak.

"Come on let's get out of here." Tabitha said to Wanda taking hold of Amara and helping her away. Wanda glared at the woman who only smiled back and Wanda went to catch up with the other two.

As they got a few blocks away Amara was slightly better but was shaking slightly. "Amara what's going on?" Tabitha said. She was starting to freak out a little at her friend's behavior.

"T-t-that w-w-was Selene." She said softly. "S-s-she...she...was."

"Okay take a breath and let it out." Tabby said to her hugging her close. Amara did just that and she calmed down a little.

"She was...is...Selene." Amara began. "She used to be the ruler of Rova Roma for centuries."

"_Centuries_?!" Tabitha and Wanda exclaimed.

"Yes." She said. "She's an immortal sorceress of the dark arts. She ruled my country for so long and was a cruel tyrant. She would do the most horrible things to those that displeased her, and she had an army of demons at her command that enforced her will on the land."

"Then one day my parents and a few of their friends gathered together and were able to send her army of darkness back to the underworld. They put up a barrier on the country so that she could never enter and was exiled from the land. The people made my parents the new King and Queen."

"Cool." Tabitha said hearing the story.

"Well Selene swore that one day she would return." Amara said. "Everything of that was of Selene was destroyed except one statue so that all future generations would know her face if she found a way to sneak back into the country."

"So that was her huh?" Wanda said looking over her shoulder.

"Yes." Amara said weakly. "I'm sure of it. I mean everyone even adults who remember the time when she still ruled, have nightmares of that woman. Children are told to do good by their parents or Selene will come for their souls."

"Whoa, kind of like the Nova Roma versions of the boogie man." Tabitha said taking in all in.

"She's much more then that." Amara said facing the two of them. She had on a deadly frightened and serious expression on her face. "She is the worst fear of everyone in my country, and unlike the boogie man...she's real."

Wanda and Tabitha exchanged worried glances at this. "We should tell Xavier." Wanda said suddenly. "I think he needs to know about this."

"No kidding." Tabitha said then looking at Amara. "Come on, lets get home were it's nice and safe."

"I don't think there is anywhere that's safe where she is around." Amara said under her breath.

As the three teens left Selene was grinning madly at her fortune. She knew there was a reason she wanted to come to this little place called Bayville. The look on the face of that spawn of those two traitors that took her thrown and power was priceless.

In fact she was just enjoying the mental image of her parents when she would send them their daughter's head to them with a note from her. "Revenge is such a sweet dish." She said looking at the retreating forms. "But I think I'll like to have some fun with the little princess when my students arrive first. It will make her misery and the misery of her parents all that much more sweeter."

**INSITUTE**

Back at the mansion Dani was trying to teach Kitty how to shoot a bow. "This is like a little hard Dani." She said trying to aim the arrow at the target.

"Don't worry, all it takes is time and practice." Dani said encouraging her. Kitty let loose the arrow and it sailed through the air and landed on the target. "Nice shot."

Kitty smiled pleased with herself. It may not be a bullseye but at least she hit the target this time. She noticed Pitor walking nearby with Gambit and she waved to him and he smiled and waved back.

Dani couldn't help but smile at Kitty's face. Kitty noticed this and with a look of pure innocence on her face asked her. "What are you like sliming at?"

Dani's smile broadened. "You like him don't you?"

"W-who?" She said shyly fiddling with the bow slightly.

"Gambit, who do you think? Pitor. You like him don't you?" Dani said to her.

Kitty bit her lower lip slightly. She knew that in another reality she had seen herself dating him, well him and Lance, but she wasn't sure if that would happen in this one. [once again Reality Trip]

"Well...maybe a little." Kitty said blushing. "I mean he's real sweet and kind and gentle and he like makes the best drawings I've ever seen."

Dani laughed out loud at Kitty. "Oh you so have it bad for him."

Across the yard Gambit noticed that his buddy was still looking over at the two girls. Or one particular girl he corrected himself. "If you like her so much ask her out." He simply said to her.

Piotr turned his head sharply to Gambit. "What? W-who?"

Gambit slapped his hand to his face and muttered a few French curses. "De chere, Kitty. Remy thinks she likes you non? Why not just ask her out?"

Piotr was silent a moment. "I've...never been on a date...I ..don't know what to do. Besides what make you think she'll say yes?"

Remy smirked. "Remy had de way with de women."

Piotr smirked. "This from a man trying to chase after a girl who isn't interested and is in love with another man."

Remy shrugged. "It just makes if more challenging." He said with a grin. "Wouldn't be de first time Gambit stole the heart of a woman from someone else."

Piotr sighed and got serious with his friend. "Remy you should leave it alone. They look happy together and do you have any idea what either of those two could do to you?"

Remy was silent at that part. He knew it was risky, but then again what was the point in life without any risk?

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 15: NEW RELATIONSHIPS**


	15. New Relationships

Sparky Genocide: You know you're right about that. I got a few ideas brewing for future conflicts already in other stories.

TheLegendaryManHimself: Yes you will see some of that in this chapter. As for the single girls I know. I mean the only single boys are Alex, Forge & Roberto and I need to hook them up. Although I got something planned with Alex and Illyana is out of the picture now.

Red Witch: You know it, and the Hellions haven't even arrived yet.

SiriusAboutMarauders: Yes he is, but he's perfect as that you got to admit and yes you will see a little of those two getting together plus a few more.

slickboy444: Yeah I'm going for some Kiotr in this story now. As for Jean's reaction I say turn about it fair play. If Scott had to go through all that crap with Duncan I way it's Jean's turn.

Ruby631: Personal experience about that? Yeah I know I just wanted someone to ruffle Jean's feathers a little and she could always do that.

Ldypebsaby: well I think she's just a bad girl not evil. And yes Kitty and Piotr will get a little close in this one.

The Uncanny R-Man: You're welcome, and you know that triangle will be fun to watch down the road. Yes when Amara stands up to Selene in a fight you know it will be good.

Thanks to: X00001, DemonRogue13

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS****  
  
CHAPTER 15: NEW RELATIONSHIPS**

It was another day at Xavier's School and Xavier himself was busy doing research into the new school opening up. After Wanda, Amara and Tabitha had returned he was very concerned by what they had learned. Plus the fact that Scott told him about the encounter that he and Jean had, Xavier doubted it was just a coincidence either.

He had spent the majority of yesterday trying to find information on this new school and any information on Emma Frost or this Selene. But he doubted he would get much on Selene if she was what Amara claimed she was.

Xavier leaned back while in the Cerebro chamber. The new computer systems that Forge had made during their last upgrade allowed him a vast computing power now in the room, but he was still getting nowhere fast. So far he found out that this 'Hellion' school was being backed by a group known as the Hellfire Club.

As soon as he heard the name he didn't like the sound of things. So far he only found out the Emma Frost was some kind of teaching assistant there and a Miss. Selene Gallio was in charge of the new boarding school. He also found records that Emma was accepted to the same collage as Jean and Scott and he knew this wasn't another coincidence. He tried to find out more about this Hellfire Club but nothing showed up.

He considered letting a couple of certain students who had expertise in gaining computer access a try but decided against it...for now. He would have to wait until he was sure those two were needed. He considered his options and knew that there was a chance he would have to call in a couple of favors. He just hoped that they would agree to this.

Outside Piotr was out near the pool sketching in his book. Well he was trying to, but his eye kept wandering to Kitty not too far away talking with some of the other girls by a table. They were what he guessed was called gossiping. He didn't understand when it happened but he was starting to develop strong feelings for Kitty. He closed his sketchbook unable to fully concentrate anymore. He got up and decided to put the book away in his room.

The girls at one of the tables were Dani, Kitty, Amanda and Blink. They were just talking about anything, at least until Dani notice that when he was still there Piotr there stealing glances at their way every now and then. "Looks like you're admirer is still interested." She said smiling to Kitty.

The other girls took a quick look as Piotr's head was down drawing. "Oh so the new guy has it for you does he?" Amanda said grinning to Kitty.

Kitty blushed. "Well...h-he's like a nice guy." She tried to say blushing slightly.

Blink sighed and rested her head on her hand. "You're so lucky to have a cute guy after you."

"Yeah tell me about it." Dani said. "Including the time spent underground I haven't had a guy interested in me for years." She said slightly depressed.

Amanda felt a little awkward seeing she was the only one in a relationship at the moment. "I'm sure you two will find someone." Amanda said trying to bring them up.

"Hey I'm still single." Kitty said.

"Please I've seen the way you two have been looking at each other." Dani said to her roommate. "Why not just go up and ask him out already?"

"I-I just don't know." She replied biting her lower lip.

"Kitty this doesn't have something to do with your breakup with Lance does it?" Amanda asked her putting her hand on Kitty's. Everyone had known she had taken the break up hard. "Are you still not over him or something?"

Kitty's face fell at the mention of Lance and she just shrugged. "I don't know. I mean looking back on it I knew we couldn't make it work but...it just hurt so much to break it off." She said sadly.

Blink tilted her head slightly. "Kitty, you're not afraid of going through that with Piotr are you?"

"Well..." Kitty said shuffling a little and started to rub her left arm.

"Kitty you can't just let that stop you." Dani told her. "What happens, happens. You can't just let yourself be intimidated by what could happen."

"Yeah I saw go for it." Amanda told her. "I mean if I didn't, Kurt and I wouldn't be together now and look at us now."

**PAIGE & SARAH'S ROOM**

Paige was looking for some new clothing she wanted to wear when Sarah walked in. She saw the pile of clothes all over the ground and let out a small growl. "What are you doing?" She asked her roommate seeing the mess.

Paige looked up from the drawer. "Oh sorry, ah'll clean it up ah promise."

"Why are you throwing all you're clothing all over the place?" Sarah demanded. She hated disorder it was one of the things she couldn't stand.

"Well after the last training session this morning with Jamie and Vince, Jamie asked if ah wanted to check out this new arcade in the mall." Paige said looking throw her clothing. "Ah just want to look nice but ah can't decided."

Sarah rolled her eyed. She noticed the girls had a tendency to be like this with only the boys or girl in Gale's case as she caught her doing the same thing earlier that day when she left to meet Amy. Sarah just didn't understand it, why would wearing any other clothing matter to the other person? Didn't they like them for other reasons? It was just one of many things she was trying to understand about normal living.

"So are you and Jamie...dating?" She asked searching for the right word.

"_What_?" Paige said shocked. "W-w-we're just friends."

Sarah was unconvinced. "I've noticed a few things while staying here. About attraction to another person there are certain sighs I've noticed." She began folding her arms across her chest. "First are things like this, when a person is worried about their looks, another is blushing and other physical signs and then there are the smells."

"Smells?" Paige asked her looking confused.

Sarah nodded. "You can't smell them but I can, nearly all the time too." She said clearly not happy about it. 'No wonder Logan goes out all the time, how does he stand all the smells?' She had to wonder. "Whenever someone is attracted to another I keep getting this smells off of them, their subtle but they're there."

"Ya mean pheromones?" Paige asked her.

Sarah thought about it and she remembered a lesson she had not too long about the subject. "Yes, I think so, anyway the couples all got it and whenever you and Jamie are together I can literally smell the interest you got in each other." She finished rolling her eyes again.

Paige was silent for a moment then she seemed to brightened up. "Ya mean he feels the same?" Sarah nodded and Paige smiled broadly. "Then ah _got_ to get the right thing." She said and went back to the clothing with a vengeance.

Sarah just groaned and walked out of the room hoping she didn't have to clean up after or she might not be able to control her anger. She was still feeling the effects from the latest anger session with Logan a few hours ago.

While the girls were helping out Kitty, Piotr was on his way to his room. He opened the door and saw his roommate Vincent there on his bed what seemed to be drawing in his own book. As soon as the door was open he quickly closed the book.

"Man give a guy some warning." He said slightly annoyed.

"My apologies, I am not used to having to share a room, I will remember to be more curious." He said seriously. Vincent nodded and placed the book in the closet.

"Why do you hide your work if I may ask?" Piotr asked him.

Vince sighed and turned to face the slightly older boy. He scratched the back of his head. "It's just personal to me. I put a lot of myself into it and well...some of what I draw in there are things I need to get out somehow."

Piotr seemed to understand. "So it's like a look into your most person thoughts."

"Some of it yeah." He went back onto his bed. "Plus the only one that knows about it other then you is Rogue of course."

Piotr was silent for a moment then he sat down on his own bed across from Vincent. "Can I ask you, how did you know she was the girl for you?"

Vincent's head popped up and he raised an eyebrow. "Well I'll tell you if you answer a question of mine after." Piotr nodded his head and Vince got a smile on his face and got up. "Well I'd like to say it was love at first sight, but I found her a nice, beautiful girl. At first we were just friends and it just, well, evolved into something more."

"So you just one day found yourself caring for her more then a friend?"

"Pretty much, came as a complete surprise to me too, but I don't regret one moment of it." He said grinning. "Now it's my turn. Is there a girl you're interested in? Actually I think you wouldn't be asking me this if you weren't, so just tell me who."

Piotr shifted uncomfortably a little. "Katya, I mean Kitty."

"Ah." Vince said nodded. "So let me guess you like her but not sure if she likes you?" The other boy nodded. "Well all I can say is take the chance. You never know and you might get a rejection, or your heart broken...but...if she likes you too then it was all worth it."

"You think I should try and ask her out?" Piotr said visibly nervous at the thought.

"What's life without a little risk? I say go for it, or you can torture yourself for who knows how long." Vincent said to him. Piotr thought about this and decided to go and think on things.

"Thank you for the advice." He said to him as he left.

"No problem." He said back with a smile and a small two finger salute with his right hand.

At that moment Kitty was being led inside by her friends. "Guys like come on, I can do this myself." She said trying to wiggle out of their grip.

"Sorry but we have to make sure you don't chicken out." Blink said grinning.

"Don't you guys like have something better to do?" Kitty whined.

"No." All three girls said at once. Then they noticed Piotr walking not too far away heading for the main door.

"Well now's your chance go for it girl." Amanda said pushing her forward.

"Alright, alright." Kitty said slightly annoyed. She took a deep breath and ran forward. "Piotr can I talk to you?"

Piotr quickly turned when he heard her voice. He was going out to think on matters and to see if he wanted to talk to Kitty about how he felt and now here she was. He couldn't help but admire the carefree way she moved and the smile that he thought lit up a room.

Yes he did think she was attractive too but he also saw in her a kind and caring spirit. She was truly a good person and always seemed to try and make those around her happy. She also made his pulse rate clime whenever she was near and he had a tendency to get nervous too.

"Yes Kitty?" he said trying to fight off the waves of nervousness.

"Um...well like you see, I was, just you know and well I ..." Kitty tried to get out what she wanted to say but was always a little nervous at times like this. It didn't help that the other three girls were watching. "Can we do this outside, away from prying eyes." She said giving a look to the three girls.

Piotr noticed the three people watching and quickly nodded his head and opened the door for Kitty and closed it as he left right behind her. The three girls were disappointed that they couldn't watch.

"Now what?" Dani asked.

"I know!" Blink said suddenly as she got an idea.

While outside Kitty and Piotr stopped by the fountain. Neither one of them said anything hoping the other would start things off.

"Kitty/Piotr" Both said at the same time, and they both let out a small laugh.

"Please ladies are first." He said to her.

"Like okay. Well I've like noticed that you've been looking at me at times." He visibly blushed and looked away a little at this. Kitty couldn't help but keep a smile off her face. 'He just looks so adorable like that.' She thought to herself.

"Well I just wanted to let you know that, well, I like you." She said blushing herself and fiddling with one of her bangs.

His head shot up. "You do?" He asked hopefully.

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah I do...so...do you want to like go somewhere?"

He smiled kindly at her. "I would love to escort you somewhere Kitty." He said to her bowing his head slightly. Kitty couldn't help but giggle a little. She liked how he always seemed to act all gentlemanly to her, she never had anyone treat her with such dignity and respect before and she liked it.

She took his arm in hers and they walked off to the front gates.

Little did Kitty and Piotr know that a few of the residents were watching them leave arm in arm. Amanda, Blink and Dani couldn't help but watch them leave from one of the rooms. Even Vincent was looking at them go from one of the windows on the main level with a smile on his face.

"What are ya lookin' at?" He turned slightly to see Rogue coming up to the window next to him. She looked out and saw the two people leaving. "Well it's about tahme she found someone to take her mind off of Lance."

"Yeah, I just hope it last better then that did." Vince said to her.

"Know one can know what exactly the future can hold." Rogue said to her. "And ah used to live with someone would could see the future."

Vince smirked slightly. "Actually I think we got a preview not long ago remember?"

Rogue looked confused then it hit her. "Lady Mayhem?" (1)

Vince nodded. "It's not everyday you see the daughter that could be, even if it was a little weird to actually meet her. At least we know we got a shot at making our relationship last."

Rogue couldn't help but smile at the thought. She leaned her head on his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around her waist and she did the same. She watched her best friend leave and hoped she would be as happy with Piotr that she was with her own boyfriend.

She also promised that if Piotr hurt Kitty like Lance did then he better run far and run fast from her wrath.

The three girls watched the two of them leave the grounds then pulled away from the window. "Well at least that's over with." Dani said smiling.

"Yeah, so now what?" Amanda asked.

"Well I'm going to the green house now girls. Ororo and me are putting some new plants in today." She said to them.

"You know you two really are getting close." Amanda said. She remembered when Blink first arrived and Ororo had taken the responsibility to care for her.

"Yeah I know." Blink said smiling. "It's...well...it's like having a mom again." She said happily. The other two girls couldn't help but smile at their friend's words.

**NEW YORK**

Warren paced back and forth in his spacious apartment. His parents were finally coming to town. He had been avoiding them for nearly a year, they left countless messages and they knew that he rarely left his apartment.

How they knew he could only guess, the most likely source was that they had hired someone to keep an eye on him. Well it was difficult for him to keep his wings hidden. He had to strap them down which was not only uncomfortable but sometimes painful too if they were bent wrong.

He was mainly a prisoner in his own home, barley able to go out and enjoy life like he had before his wings sprouted. It wasn't easy keeping it a secret now that mutants were know common knowledge to the world. He was able to keep appearances when he needed them for the company since his parents wanted him to take over for them, he had no troubles with that, but he wasn't sure if the other board members would like having a mutant as the head of the company.

And if word of that got out then who knows what the company's stature would be after that. So he left only when he had to, he had no visitors and was alone most of the time and it was killing him inside. He resisted the urge to just fly out into the city, at least in the morning, at night it was safer for him to do so and it was one of the few moments of peace he had.

He knew his parents were just worried but every time he picked up the phone trying to call them and to explain everything to them, he put it back down unable to go through with it. Now the last message he got was that they were coming to see him.

He considered leaving, just opening up the window and fly out, it was easy for a guy with wings after all. But he knew he had to face them eventually. He sat down then waiting for the inevitable as he looked at the clock across the room.

'In two hours the moment I've been dreading will be here.' He thought to himself. 'I think I'd rather go up against Apocalypse again.'

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 16: A NEW ARRIVAL**

(1) See "Reality Trip: the Lost Chapter" by Ruby 613 for more details


	16. A New Arrival

Red Witch: No it won't go well for him.

BlackRoseApocalyps: I'm happy you're back, and you know Warren and his parents won't be a good thing.

slickboy444: Glad you liked the Piotr/Kitty thing I got going as for Warren let's say they're about to get a new visitor.

celtcath74: I'm not sure yet if they'll actually meet the Hellfire club before I introduce the Phoenix or not yet, I'm still working on how to do the Phoenix.

Outsideoftheinside: Let's just say Gambit doesn't like to give up, but I think it's clear that Rogue made her choice.

Ruby631: Oops sorry about that, I'll try never to do that again, and as for mentioning it, well if you paid homage to my work I don't see why not repay the effort.

Supergirlhv: Yeah I've been meaning to bring him in for a while and this seemed like the perfect time.

Uncanny R-Man: I was wondering how you sent a review. Yes Warren is the new member of the group and what can I say I like to do some fluff every now and then.

Gurgle: The story is called "**Reality Trip: the Lost Chapter" **by **Ruby631**, sorry I mixed up the 3 and the 1 when I wrote it down. On a personal note don't ever send another snobby review like that again especially if it starts out like you with 'Dear you know what'. I was offended by that remark and don't ever do that again, if you don't like the way I portray certain characters then don't read it since I got a LOT of people who do like what I do so it's no great loss to me to loss you.

Thanks to: Sparky Genocide

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 16: A NEW ARRIVAL**

It had been a day since Piotr and Kitty went out and already the school betting pool had gathered. Several of the students were gathered in Bobby's room while the new couple was out at the moment.

"Okay so Dani you got five bucks on them sharing a kiss within three days from now." Bobby said writing it all down in a small notebook as he was in charge of the bets. "Jubes you said five bucks and they'll go at it in four days. Gale you said five bucks in one day...kind of going on a limb aren't you?"

Gale shrugged. "Hey you don't feel what those two do when they're together."

"Hey! No fair using your empathic abilities!" Amara objected. She was doing a lot better ever since her run in with Selene but she was still slightly jumpy when going outside and the others had to wonder how dangerous this Selene character really was if they spooked her like that.

"I can't help it." Gale said raising her hands in defense. "You know I still don't got perfect control over it."

"Well I'll put down ten with Gale." Roberto said. "I'll go with the empath on this one."

"Nah those two are too shy." Tabitha said leaning back on one of Bobby's chairs. "I got the that says four days tops."

"Does it nae occur to anyone we should find a better use of our time?" Rahne asked them. All the teens gave her a questioning look.

"Come on furtop, I mean we need some distraction from all the insane mutants, and bigots like the FOH in our lives." Jubilee told her. "So you in or out?"

"Put me down for five in two days." Rahne said.

Elsewhere in the mansion Jean and Scott where making their way to the Professor's office as they were summoned. On the way there they saw Rogue and Vince moving a bed.

"What are you two doing?" Scott asked them.

"Professor said to put the last spare bed we got in the only room left with one person in it for a new arrival." Vince said and he shifted the weight of it to get a better grip.

"Really?" Jean asked surprised. "Who is it?"

"He didn't say." Rogue said clearly not happy with this duty. "Why are we always tha ones to do all tha heavy liftin'? We got Colossus now, why not put him ta good use?"

"I think he's out with Kitty again, she's showing him around Bayville I think." Vincent told her. She just muttered something under her breath about how he was so lucky to get out of this.

"You two have super strength, it's not like it's a strain." Scott said to them.

Both teens gave him a not too happy look. "For one thing Scott it's difficult to move this thing in and out of rooms and around this place even if it's like lifting a pillow."

"Secondly ah know ah'm tried of being the damn pack mule." Rogue muttered.

"Welcome to my life." Vincent said rolling his eyes.

"Yeah but ya like helping others."

"Hey just cause I don't complain doesn't mean it gets annoying that I'm used for all the heavy lifting all the time." He said slightly annoyed.

"Why didn't you just take it apart?" Jean asked them.

"Forge got all the tools in his lab at the moment and all I know he's doing something in there and Jamie and Paige for some reason are helping him out." Vince told her.

"Well why not just go in there and get them?" Asked Scott.

"Do you two even remember tha last tahme we where in Forge's lab?" Rogue asked the two oldest member of the team.

Both Scott and Jean thought back to Forge's 'teleportation' machine that ended up sending them into other realities. "Oh." Scott said. "Good point."

"Yeah why tempt fate, I rather not go through that again." Vincent muttered. "I lost two shirts, got shot by an X-Wing, a giant robot and then it stepped on me...now that hurt, plus a few other things I rather not think about."

"Well we better get this damn thing in that room." Rogue said to Vince and they started on the way. Jean and Scott continued on to the Professor's study and walked in.

"You wanted to see us Professor?" Jean asked him.

"Yes please sit down." Xavier gestured to them. Both young adults sat down across from him.

"We're going to have a new member join us as he called me last night. He'll be arriving today and I wanted to talk to the two of you specifically about him."

"Who is it?" Scott asked him.

"It's Warren." This surprised both Jean and Scott. Warren had refused to join twice already and they figured he wouldn't be one to join up with them. "I don't know his reasons yet but he's decided to join us."

"Now what I wanted to talk to you two about is that I feel Warren would be better suited as an instructor here considering his age he's too old to be a student. I know that you two are part time instructors now that you've completed high school and I wanted you two to help him out since he's closer to your own ages then the other adults."

"Yeah with all the students here we could use the extra help." Scott admitted. It was much more crowed around here lately then this place had ever been and the more instructors the better in his opinion. It was tough keeping track of all the kids when they were just on the property, put in when they went out and especially when they forget to mention that to someone, got a little difficult at times.

He remembered trying to find Bobby a few days back, he asked around and went looking for nearly an hour till someone told him they saw him and Jubilee go off to the mall.

"Yes I agree with you on that point." Xavier said nodding. He too found it difficult to keep track of all the new students and to be responsible for them all too.

"We'll be sure to help him out." Jean stated also slightly relieved they would be getting some more help as well. She remembered her first time as a part time instructor with the kids when she and Scott had to teach them. That was a day she never wanted to repeat again. She just hoped the others wouldn't give Warren that much of a hard time.

**LATER**

Warren had taken his own car to the Institute. He also had to strap his wings down and wear a coat so he wouldn't get any attention while driving. A man with wings driving a car would either attract the attention of the wrong kind of people, or could cause an accident if someone was looking at him and not the road. He did however have to turn the AC up all the way so he wasn't dying from the heat.

After what had happened with his parents he had decided that he needed a new direction in life. When he was going out into the city at Christmas and then at the battle against Apocalypse he felt a sense of belonging. Like he had found what he needed to do in life. He never felt more like what he did mattered to so many before and he had to admit he liked the feeling.

It was also nice to spend time, no matter how brief it was with other people that understood him in a way no other human could. He pulled up to the mansion noticing a few of the younger mutants playing on the lawn not too far away.

He also noticed a few new faces that he never seen before. He smirked to himself as he though of Xavier taking in more students to help. Xavier seemed like a good and caring man, and he couldn't think of anyone better suited to help mutants then that man. He got out of his car and went to the front door. He left his suitcases in the back seat and the trunk until he talked to Xavier.

The door opened suddenly and he saw a young girl in a white T-shirt and a green shirk, but what really caught his attention was that she had pinkish colored skin and a lighter shade in her waist length hair. He also noticed a few curious triangular shapes on her face and her eyes were completely white.

"Oh wow." She said seeing him, Warren raised an eyebrow at her comment, he was used to the reaction the girls and women give him. "Oh! I mean hello." The girl said, he saw her skin turn a slightly darker color and guessed she was blushing.

He smiled at the young girl. "I'm Warren I'm here to see Charles Xavier." He took off his coat and placed it by a rack near the door. He undid the strap and his wings ruffled a bit at the new freedom. It felt so good to finally get his wings out again.

"Yeah he told me to get the door and to show you to his office." The girl said as she gazed at his beautiful wings. "I-I-I'm Clarice but you can call me Blink."

"Well could you take me then?" He asked Blink.

"Oh of course. This way." She told him going ahead. He was led to a small office and knocked once before he heard a voice said to enter. He opened the door and found Xavier waiting for him with a tea set already out.

"Please sit down, would you like something to drink?" He offered.

Warren smiled and sat down. "Cream, and one lump please." Xavier nodded and got his drink ready and handed it to the young man.

"So I am grateful that you decided to join us but I have to wonder as to why you changed your mind?" Xavier said to him giving the man a curious look. Warren sighed, he knew he would have to tell Xavier his reasons, so he began at when his parents had come to see him for the first time since his mutation manifested.

**FLASHBACK**

Warren had been waiting in the other room as his parents came in. Warren Kenneth Worthington jr. and his mother Katherine Worthington entered the apartment. "Warren honey are you here?" He heard his mother call to him.

"I'm here...but...there's something you should know." He said from the other room.

"Warren son what's wrong, why have you been avoiding us?" His father asked. They had both been worried about their son for so long.

"I've...changed." He said to them.

Now both parents were really getting worried and were slowly making their way to the other room. "Changed...how?" His father asked.

Warren stepped into view his wings right behind him. "I'm a mutant." With those words and the sight of his wings both his parents were socked into silence. His mother had fainted and his father caught her in time. Warren had helped his dad to get her to the couch.

He was glad that his father didn't seem revolted but he did get worried looks from him. It took a few minutes to get his mother around and a few more until she had calmed down. "Warren...how long has this been going on?"

Warren sighed. He was sitting across the couch from his mother with his father next to her. "For over a year now...I first notice two small bulges on my back then the next thing I knew they were small wings. I didn't know what was going on and in a week." He moved his now full grown wings to show his point.

"Oh God Warren...so this is why you didn't want to see us?" She asked him.

"Yes...I...I didn't know how you could take it." He said avoiding their gaze.

"Well I think I can see why." His father said he didn't know how he meant it but it from the sound of it, Warren thought he was disappointed in him.

"Maybe...maybe we could call Dr. Stuart." Her mother said. Dr. Stuart was the family doctor of the Warrens for years. "He could...you know...do something about the wings."

Warren sat there wide-eyed at her. "You mean something like cut them off!" He said angrily to her standing up.

"Warren, don't raise your voice to your mother!" His father said angrily.

"Well excuse me! She just wanted to have me mutilated for crying out loud!" He said angrily.

"Warren I-I just wanted you to be normal again, I didn't mean it like that." His mother pleaded with him.

Warren turned to face his mother. "Mom, I'll never be normal. Even if I lost my wings I would still be a mutant, I may be able to hide what I am from the world, but I can't hide it from myself."

His father placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "Warren think about you future. I mean if you did do this...well, people would treat you like they always had, you'd have a future again, what kind of future could you have if the world found out that..."

"That what? I'm a freak?" Warren said to him jerking his body to removed his father's hand. "Is that what you were going to say? And for the record I'm NOT going to get my wings removed! That would be like asking me to cut off my legs damn it!"

"Warren we're just concerned." His mother said on the verge of tears. "I've seen the way mutants are portrayed and how they're dealt with, I don't want that for you. You don't deserve to be treated like the way mutants are."

"But I AM a mutant." Warren said quietly to her turning and walking to the window looking out. "Nothing will change that mom and dad. I can't keep hiding what I am from the world, and I can't just sit back either as mutants that aren't as fortunate as me are out there without the privileges that I was born with."

"It's like you said, you know how mutants are treated out there in the world."

"But Warren, what about the business?" His father asked him. "You know I wanted you to take over, but if it comes out that you're a mutant, you know the board will not allow me to put you in my place."

Warren knew his father had wanted his son to take over the business like his father had taken over from Grandpa Warren. Warren Worthington the first who started the company. In fact he wanted to do that too. But it seemed that life had dealt him a different hand then what he wanted.

"I know dad...but I can't keep myself locked up, hiding myself from the world, like I'm ashamed of what I am anymore. I need to do something with my life and if I can't take over the company...then I guess I need to find a new direction in life."

"But Warren what will you do?" His mother asked. "What could you possible do if you came out as a mutant?"

Warren had been thinking about that all morning, and there was only one thing he could have thought of.

**PRESENT**

"I see." Xavier said, the young man had his sympathies. It wasn't easy for a mutant to come out to his parents and to also give up on his dreams of the future also. "Well I can have a student show you to your room for the moment if you want."

"Please." Warren said slightly emotionally drained from retelling it.

Xavier nodded and then a knock at the door. It opened and Blink was there. "You called?" Warren had to grin that he 'called' for the girl without seemingly to do anything. He guessed he would have to get used to living with a telepath.

"Yes Clarice. Could you take Warren to the last room?" Xavier asked then turned to Warren. "I'm afraid until I can get some renovations started you'll have to share a room for the moment."

Warren inwardly sighed, he hadn't expected that. "Well maybe I could help out in that department, I still have some influence in my family's company and I know of a few people I could call that could get things started."

Xavier smiled and seemed slightly relieved by that. "That would be most appreciated." Warren nodded and walked out with Blink. The girl seemed slightly nervous around him so he thought to try and start up conversation since he would be living here now.

"So what can you do?" He asked the girl.

Blink smiled shyly at him. "Well...I can make these for starters." She created an energy lance in her hands then dissipated it. "I can also make portals-oh! Why didn't I think of that sooner?" She asked herself then she created a portal and right in front of them.

Warren was too surprised to stop himself from going throw it and suddenly found himself somewhere else in the mansion and he turned in time to see Blink stepping through the portal and the portal itself closing. "Well here we are." She said gesturing to the door.

"Uh...thanks." Warren said. He just hoped he could find his way back to the front door and then back. She blushed again and walked off. He opened the door and walked in, he saw two beds but who he saw in the room was someone he hoped to never meet again in his life.

The thief.

"Bonjour." Gambit said from the bed who was shuffling his cards. "We meet again." He said with an amused grin on his face.

Warren was tempted to just go back to his parents then live in a room with this man, or just throttle the man, either one was good in his opinion.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 17: THE ODD COUPLE**

Will Warren be able to live with a man the complete opposite of himself?


	17. The Odd Couple

Red Witch: Yeah you can almost hear it can't you?

BlackRoseApocalyps: Yeah I wanted to go another way with parents reacting that their kid is a mutant. Glad you liked it and don't worry I got a little more Gambit torture set up.

slickboy444: You know it, I mean those two are exact opposites.

TheLegendaryManHimself: I was just going to have the girls all think he's just the new cute guy. They all are too young for Warren, I'm just having a little fun since women tend to throw themselves at him at times. And sometime in the future you will see Betsy, in fact I gave a little hint not too long ago but it might have been too subtle.

Ruby631: I'm not pairing those two up, I'm just going to have the girls think he's cute (He does have that effect on women it seems) I'm sure that was one of the reasons for the pairing too and from what you wrote I take it April's boyfriend is in prison?

Uncanny R-Man: Thanks I fixed it. I just figured Warren would be just eye candy for the girls to drool over a little but no relationships. I got plans on bringing in Betsy later on and Paige is 13 in this story so there's no way I'm setting those two up.

Sparky Genocide: Yeah you know it will be, but mostly for Warren.

DemonRogue13: Yeah I never really saw Lance and Kitty working out honestly, they're just too different.

Thanks to: supergirlhv,

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS  
CHAPTER 17: THE ODD COUPLE**

Warren could not believe his luck. Of all people why him? Why this guy? In fact he was just realizing he didn't know he had switch sides. The first time he had met him he had robbed the house his family had owned just outside of the New York area.

Warren for a time had chosen to live there since he was tired of his apartment and needed a change. The home had no staff at the moment and his parents were in Asia at the time so it was the perfect place to get away from the city.

He had ran into Gambit while he was in the process of stealing from him, although to be fair he had heard from Xavier he was under the control of a mutant Mesmero. The fact still was he worked, or had worked, for Magneto and was a thief. In his opinion one the lowest class of human or in this case mutant a person could get.

Warren and his family had worked hard to make and keep their company. All thieves in his opinion went the easy route and took what others had worked for. Now he had to share a room with this man.

"Care for a game of cards?" Gambit asked with a smirk.

"This has got to be a mistake." Warren said darkly. He really didn't want to share a room with this guy. "I'm going to see Xavier." Warren quickly turned and marched off. It took him five minutes until he realized he had no clue as to where he was since he was teleported here. "Damn." He muttered as he looked around and scratched his head. He shrugged and picked on direction and went there.

In the kitchen Blink found several of the girls gathered together. So far there were Tabitha, Amara, and Jubilee. "Girls you will not guess who just showed up?"

"Johnny Deep?" Tabitha asked hopefully.

"Uh...no." Blink said to the blond. Tabitha's face fell slightly at looked a little disinterested. "This new guy showed up. He's so dreamy and get this...he's got these wings."

"Wait." Tabitha said to her. "Tall, white bird-like wings, blond, gorgeous?"

"Yeah that's him, you know him?" Blink asked her getting excited.

"Oh yeah, that's Warren also called Angel and if you ask me that's the perfect name for him." Tabitha said with a smile.

Amara rolled her eyes. "Don't you stop looking at other boys now that you got Sam? I mean just cause Warren is from the upper class and is handsome, don't you feel back looking at other guys?"

"Hey we're not married, and I do love Sam. Besides I just look, I wouldn't cheat on Sam." Tabitha said seriously to Amara. "Besides he's like what? Twenty something? A little too old if ya ask me...doesn't mean we can't look though."

"So Blink." Dani asked her. "How cute is he? On a scale from one to ten?"

Blink thought about it. "I'd say a nine."

"Damn really?" Jubilee asked. "I got to see this." She then noticed a few of the looks. "Hey what Tabby said, look but don't touch, it's not like the guys don't from time to time."

"Huh, excuse me?" They turned to see Warren himself in the doorway of the kitchen. "Could one of you tell me where Xavier's office is from here?"

"Oh sure." Tabby said smiling and then pointed. "Go down that way, take a left and it's the second door on the right."

Warren nodded his thanks. "Thank you." He left and the girls watched him leave then turned to face one another.

"Oh yeah definite nine, if not a ten." Dani said smiling. The other girls nodded agreeing with her.

Warren had managed to find Xavier's office and for the past few minutes had been ranting over the fate he had to share a room with that man. After he had cooled down Xavier in a calm voice tried to reason with him. "Warren we are basically running out of room and his is one of the only ones left. It will only be temporary until the construction for the new additions are ready, then you will have your own room."

Warren thought about it. "I'll hurry that call and see if I can also call in a few favors to speed things up." Warren left Xavier's office and went to his car to get his bags. He got back to his room and saw that Gambit was still on the same place on the other bed still shuffling his cards.

"You want help with dat?" Gambit said with a mischievous grin.

Warren narrowed his eyes. "Don't worry about it I can handle it." He turned to go and get the last things out of his car then stopped himself. "Don't steal anything."

Remy with a look on innocence that he perfected since childhood. "What do you take me for?"

"A thief." Warren said flatly.

With a look of mock pain on his face and theatrically placed a hand over his heart. "You wound me sir."

"Don't tempt me." Warren muttered and went to get the rest of his things. It took a little while to unpack and get everything put away, especially since he made sure everything was still there. He found a few things missing and when he pressed Gambit about it gambit seemed to continently find the 'lost' items pretty fast.

After it all he was thankful when Gambit left and he was alone in the room. "This is going to be way too long." He muttered to himself he went to look at the time at his watch then noticed it wasn't on the left wrist. He check the right but it wasn't there he thought that it must have fallen but then he got an idea. "Remy!" He shouted and chased after the man.

He also made a vow that right after that he'd make those calls to get the construction here as fast as possible.

Later Remy was walking the grounds. There was one of those DR sessions scheduled for him and the other new ones but frankly he was tired of those. He figured he would skip this one, besides used to be a master thief and an Acolyte, he was more then skilled enough to deal with things.

The other reasons was that all his life he had followed others around. First the thieves guild then when things got too hot for him there he left and then he joined up with Magneto. He didn't believe in Magneto's vision he was just there cause the money was good and it was something to do and a safe place to be away from the guild.

But there he had to do whatever Magneto said and after awhile it was too much like his old life that he wanted to leave behind. That and that last plan he had was it for him. Now he knew he wasn't a good man, his past proved that with some of the things he had done. But he wasn't a totally bad one either and sure wasn't evil. So when Wanda and her plan had come along he had gone with it.

Now here he was once again under the thumb of another person living under their rules. Sure the Professor was better then the others but frankly Gambit didn't know who he was anymore. He just wanted to find out who he was as a person, but there were reasons why he stayed...okay maybe just one.

He looked to a tree and there was the one reason sitting under there reading. Rogue was there and looked just as lovely as the day he first saw her. Of course he tried to hurt her also that day but that was beside the point. He was about to go over to her and try to see just how faithful she was to her boyfriend when his competition showed up and beat him to it.

He watched as she seemed happy just to see him and it irked him. He moved away but kept an eye on them. It was a safe bet he didn't really care much for the Canadian. It wasn't that he wasn't a nice guy, in fact he was. But besides the fact that he was so close to what he desired they were completely different.

He was the typical good guy and had this thing about honor. Now Gambit had heard that saying honor amongst thieves but he knew for a fact that was not true. Any type of honor a thief had only went so far before the greed that fueled their ambition. His father was proof of that.

Besides would a man of honor try to steal a girl from someone else? He grinned at the last time he did that. A group of his old circle in the Guild bet him he couldn't take this one girl at this bar, well he got the girl and over three hundred dollars too. That was a good night.

"There you are!" He turned to see a very pissed off Warren walking to him.

"Did you lose this?" Remy asked him holding up a watch. Warren snatched it and went on a rant but he just tuned him out. He had to admit he thought having a roommate would be dull, but when Xavier asked him about it and when he told him who the roommate was going to be he knew there was a lot of opportunity to have some fun.

He wasn't going to steal anything of his and then sell it off...well the thought had crossed Gambit's mind, but he settled for just messing with him anyway. He had done the same at the Acolytes. He kept on stealing Pyro's lighters all the time although that was also so he would stop setting fires too, but it was still fun.

"Are you listening to me?" Warren said angrily.

"Oui, Gambit gets the point." Gambit lied. Warren gave him a slight glare before going back to the mansion. Gambit then turned to what he was interested in earlier but noticed the two were now gone. He frowned slightly but shrugged it off and decided to see what else there was around this place.

**IN TOWN**

Alex and Roberto were walking along the town, since Roberto was showing him around a little. Alex was starting to enjoy his new life here in Bayville. Sure once people seemed to figure out he was from the Institute he got some hostile attitude but then that was expected, and he new that things wouldn't be different back with his adopted parents.

But at least here he had Scott and other friends who dealt with everything so that was a plus. Also he did miss all the choice surfing at least with Roberto around he had someone who knew about the sport and he could talk to him about it without getting blank stares.

Alex was just talking to Roberto about how Logan was pissed that Gambit hadn't showed up for the training that day and seemed to take it out on them. He wasn't watching where he was going and the next thing he knew he slammed into something.

A soft something that cried out like he did as both hit the ground. "Ow...okay that hurt." Said the voice.

Alex who had landed hard on his butt was getting up and looked at what, or actually who he had accidentally walked into. He froze a moment as he saw a girl roughly his own age with long black hair tied into a long pony tail.

"Oh man! Sorry about that, let me help you up." He offered her his hand and she took it.

"It's okay I wasn't looking where I was going either...oh." She finally looked at Alex and quite frankly liked what she saw. "Oh, I mean, I...hi." She said and mentally slapped herself in the head. 'Good one, why do I always make a fool out of myself in front of all the cute guys?' she asked herself.

"Hi." Alex said back smiling. "Well to be fair I should have been looking where I was going...I'm Alex by the way."

"Annie, Annie Ghazikhanian." She said holding out her hand for a handshake. Alex didn't hesitate to take it and shake her hand.

"Ahem." They both turned to Roberto who was feeling like he was being left out.

"Oh sorry man. Annie, this is a friend of mine Roberto." Alex said introducing him he smiled and nodded politely and Annie nodded back.

"Nice to meet you both, one of tell me the way to South Street?" She asked slightly embarrassed. "I just moved here last week with my family and I'm still getting to know the place."

Alex scratched the back of his head. "Same here, Roberto do you know where it is?"

"Sure thing." Roberto said proudly. He gave her simple directions for her to follow.

"Thanks for the help...and well, I hope I'll see you around." She said a little shyly and waved goodbye as she continued on her way.

Alex waved back with a smile plastered on his face. Roberto couldn't help but notice it and grinned to himself.

**MANSION**

Wanda was taking it easy in her room while applying an ice pack to her shoulder. She hadn't seen one of the hazards of the Danger Room coming earlier that day and had got a nasty blow to her shoulder. Unfortunately Gale had already used up a lot of her healing energy on Forge, Jamie and Paige from a little accident in his labs.

It was nothing serious but apparently three different healing sessions left her drained and she was sleeping it off in her room, so now Wanda had to suffer it for a few hours at least. Thankfully nothing was broken but she would have a nasty bruise there.

She was testing out her shoulder by rolling it when Rogue walked in. She stopped and looked at her shoulder. "Danger Room huh? Is it bad?"

Wanda would have shrugged if the movement wouldn't have sent a jolt of slight pain so she didn't. "Not too bad, I take it you've seen a few bruises like this before?"

"Seen and taken." Rogue sighed and sat down. "At least now ah take it a lot more."

"Yeah invulnerability sure sounds nice about now." Wanda said and put the cold pack back. "I just wonder where the hell that Cajun rat was...he was supposed to be my partner for today and when I see him I'm going to..."

"As much as ah would love ta see ya hex him, remember ya got grounded for doing that ta Bobby...although he did deserve it." Rogue admitted with a slight smile. For the entire week Bobby had avoided Wanda and every time she walked into a room he got out just as fast.

"I guess you're right about that." Wanda muttered then she thought about something. "So why do you would want me to hex someone, namely him?"

Rogue's good mood suddenly dropped. "Lately he's been tryin' ta get meh alone with him and he think's he's got a chance with meh." Wanda raised an eyebrow. "And before you ask yes, he knows ah'm involved and yes ah told him there wasn't a chance but he won't listen and he's drivin' meh nuts!"

There was a knock on their open door and guess who just had to walk in at that time. "Hello girls mind Remy dropping by?" Gambit said with a smirk.

Rogue looked over to Wanda. "On second thought it would be worth it if you did."

Gambit gave a confused look on his face then saw a very pissed off Wanda. "You! Where the hell were you today?" She yelled at him. Gambit stepped back and found himself against the door and held up his hands.

"What did Gambit do?"

"You were supposed to be my partner for today's session you idiot!" Wanda shouted and pointed a finger at him. "And look what happened!" She said pointing to her shoulder. "I ought to hex you through a wall!"

Gambit knew there was something he had forgotten about that training session he skipped and now he remembered, he also thought he should run as fast as he could right now. "Uh...Gambit just remembered he needed to be somewhere else...right now." He then quickly made his escape through the door with Wanda hot on his heels.

"Get back here! I'm not done with you yet Cajun!" Wanda shouted out after him as she chased him down. Rogue just sat on her bed with a satisfied look on her face.

'Looks like having Wanda as a roommate has an advantage after all.' Rogue thought while a smile was on her face from what just happened. Then she heard Gambit crying out and Rogue guessed that Wanda had caught up to him.

She also saw a pleased Warren walking by her door whistling to himself. Rogue was a little suspicious at his attitude. "Hey Warren." He turned to face her. "What just happened?"

He shrugged. "Gambit was running from Wanda for some reason and he was about to make it to the front door when he just tripped."

Rogue smirked. "Just 'tripped' huh?"

"Yeah I guess you should watch out for the carpets down there." He said.

"Warren...tha carpet down there is secured to tha floor."

"Oh really? Well isn't that strange." He said before walking off, and Rogue couldn't help but laugh at what she guessed had happened downstairs. After a few minutes Wanda came back to the room looking a little more satisfied and sat down on her bed across the room.

"So is he still alive?" Rogue asked her.

"Unfortunately but lets just say he needed the icepack more then I do at the moment, and I doubt he'll skip another session again, at least if it will piss me off." Wanda told her gently stretching herself on her bed being careful of her shoulder.

Rogue noticed it. "Ya didn't hurt your shoulder more did ya?"

She shook her head. "I don't think so."

Meanwhile downstairs Scott was passing the living room and saw Gambit on the couch. He had seen Logan earlier and knew he was looking for Gambit and Scott couldn't blame him. He walked over to him about to give him a lecture about responsibility when he saw him more clearly now and that he had a few icepacks on his body. 'Guess someone got to him already although I didn't think Logan was this pissed.'

Scott decided to leave him to his misery.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 18: BOILING POINT AND EXPLOSION**

The little triangle I got going ends with a crash and burn and the institute will lose a member too.


	18. Boiling Point and Explosion

Red Witch: Yeah I've wanted to bring her into the story for a while, and I'm glad you found it funny.

slickboy444: Yeah I see your point with that reason too, and I love the fact those two are roomed together for now at least. But one reason for doing something means if it's gone then why do it at all, you'll see what I mean.

Supergirlhv: Glade you liked it, and I hope you do find this one interesting.

TheLegendaryManHimself: Annie in the comics is a nurse that took care of Alex while he was catatonic and he was a john doe. She fell for him even like that and eventually thanks to her son found out who he was, now she and her son are at the Institute (Her son is x-gene positive) and she's a nurse there, and Alex also seems to have feelings for her too.

Xmenfan: You know your right about that, thanks. I wanted to have her 'fleshed' out as you said it's just hard with all the other characters and sometimes other get pushed aside. I'll try it out, and maybe I'll do a one shot with her.

Damn-my-name-was-taken: lol, I had no idea that actually happened. And I've seen people cram vehicles into those bases too when I played on-line.

Uncanny R-Man: Thanks, but I still don't have a clue as to who to pair X-23 up with. Plus don't forget Wanda, Dani, Forge and the adults too, if you got any suggestions please let me know.

Sparky Genocide: Well let's say that Gambit might cross a line in this.

Ruby631: Well I like Annie better at the moment, and I didn't think of making her that but that's interesting. Polaris will show up later on though but not at Xavier's. And that would freak him out I can't wait to see that chapter.

jadestar123: Well you might not after this chapter.

Ldypebsaby: yep it's time to end this, and it won't be pretty.

Thanks to: evil-bunny-leader, DemonRogue13

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 18: BOILING POINT AND EXPLOSION**

Gambit was outside in the shade of one of the trees. It had been a couple of days since he had skipped that training session and after his 'punishment' by Wanda, he got it also from Logan and Xavier. Well Xavier mostly said he was disappointed and gave him a speech about responsibility or something, to tell the truth he was thinking of something else at the time.

Logan however wasn't so easy and had him washing the velocity for two weeks. But luckily he just bribed Jamie to do it. It cost him twenty dollars a job but he could afford it given all that he saved from his thief days. Now he was considering his next move.

Him and Warren were still at odds, especially since Remy kept on taking things of his and hiding them throughout the room. He had to admit it was pretty funny to watch the rich kid go ballistic at times when looking. But now he decided it was time to go back to the main game instead of this little one.

His friend Colossus had warned him yet again not to make trouble, but Gambit couldn't help it. He enjoyed a challenge and this was proving to be the best challenge of his life. He noticed a few of the others outside he tried not to overhear until the words 'Gambit and Rogue were together' caught his attention.

He made it look like he was walking away but as soon as he was out of side snuck up by using the side of the mansion as cover while the other talked. Near by sitting on the ground a few of the others were just laying around, a few were fiddling with the grass or something.

Rahne was laying on the ground, while Sam had an arm around Tabby who was cuddling up next to him happily, Bobby was there sitting next to Jubilee, and Blink too, but she was sitting with her legs under her since she had on one of her skirts. "I'm telling you guys if Rogue and Gambit were together in that other reality." Bobby told them. "I mean I think she liked in him a few of them, you got to wonder what that's like, I mean to see basically you, that's into someone else."

"Man that's got to be weird...although I wish I had gone with you." Jubilee said. "It would have been cool to see another version of me."

"Ah don't know about that." Sam said slightly uncomfortable. "Ah mean you said ah was dating someone else other then Tabby in a couple of those, and ah just don't see it, ah mean she's the only girl for me."

Tabitha smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Good answer Sammy."

"But you got to admit...Gambit is kind of cute though." Jubilee admitted.

"Jubilee!" Bobby said surprised his girlfriend would say something like that.

She patted his arm. "Don't worry I think you're still cuter." Bobby was visibly relieved at that.

"What is it with that guy though, I mean I've noticed a few of you girls giggling at times when he walks by, what is it?" Sam said curious.

"Well I think it's the whole dark and mysterious past." Tabitha said.

"I like th' way he talks personally." Rahne offered.

"I like his eyes." Blink admitted. "I mean I could look into those all day, they're just so strange yet compelling. But then again it's no secret he's got a thing for Rogue." All the others nodded their heads.

"Hey do you think Vince knows about it?" Rahne asked them all as she thought about it.

"I don't know." Bobby said. "But if he doesn't and finds out that won't be pretty, you know how he can get when he actually gets angry."

Gambit however thought he heard enough and decided to see if he could get a little more information out of the others. The trouble was who to ask without letting anyone else know. He asked around about something he heard about them going to other realities from Jamie, with five bucks as incentive. He had to admit the kid was good at haggling.

So far he learned who was involved in that, but couldn't ask any of them. Rogue and Vincent were of course out, Scott was out too since he was obvious that Scott didn't wither like him or trust him, maybe both. Jean was way out since she might read his mind, Amanda was out because she was dating Kurt and might tell him. Kurt was Rogue's sister so that was out too.

The only one left was Jamie and he wasn't sure he could afford the info, or get what he wanted. So now he was back to square one. He was walking the halls thinking about it all when he noticed Blink and Dani talking in the living room and a thought struck him.

He grinned to himself, since maybe he could put the charm on Blink since she said she liked his eyes and all. Wouldn't be the first time he charmed a lady for information, only this wasn't for a robbery this time.

It was later in the day and Blink was enjoying the outdoors. She had always used to spend hours in her garden back home...when she looked normal that is. She had on some gloves and was currently working in a small garden Ororo had said she could start out in on the grounds. She had been ecstatic when she learned that.

Even since she had gotten here she had tried to regain a few of the things that she liked in her old life. She so far had almost all the old CDs she had, and a few other items, gardening was the one of the things she had adored in her old life and was glad to share it with someone like Ororo. She was working up a slight sweet from the hot weather and working the soil that her plants were in, making sure it was just right.

She stopped at the moment and put down her tools and wiped her forehead with her arm, making sure not to wipe the dirt of her gloves onto her face. "Care for something to drink?" Blink jumped at the sudden sound of the voice and turned to see Gambit there smiling kindly at her and holding out a cold water bottle.

"T-thanks." She said nervously and took it. She was still nervous around new people, and was still a little shy too, but in the last month she had been leaning from the others that she didn't have to be that way. She took a sip from the bottle it was really refreshing and just what she needed.

He sat down next to her. "So what are you doing?"

"Just gardening." She said to him. 'Why is he being so nice to me?' She thought. 'He hardly even looked at me before and I though he was after Rogue or something, so why all the sudden is he sitting next to me?'

Remy gave her that charming smile that women seemed to love. "That's nice. You know, Remy just thought dat he doesn't know anyone here dat well, so Remy be thinkin' dat he would like to get to know some of de others more."

"W-w-well why are you talking to me?" She asked even more nervous now. 'He really is cute, especially those eyes.'

Gambit moved closer to her and she swallowed kind of harder then she wanted to. "Remy thought dat would be obvious...Remy would like to get to know you more chere."

Clarice felt her heart increase suddenly. 'No way! No way he's interested in you that way. I mean an older then you boy, whose good looking, and has a lovely accent, is interesting in you...don't go there, he can't be...but...but...why would he get to know me? I mean after all...with the way I look and all...no he just wants to be friends...that has to be it...isn't it?'

"Um...okay...sure." She told him hiding her blush behind her long pinkish hair. She didn't know how long they talked but she started with her life, it was kind of boring and uneventful but he seemed to hang on every word. She talked about what had happened to her with her parents and then Trask. It was still hard to talk about, and she was surprised when he put an arm around her when she got to the hard parts.

She was grateful for that. He asked about all the things that went on here and she told him about some of the pranks and stuff, and of all the strange things like when she first saw Lockheed. Then she got to one of Forge's inventions that went wrong and sent the others into other realities.

Remy grinned on the inside. After listening to this girl for over an hour and a half he was getting to what he needed to know. "Really?" He said faking surprised. "Tell Remy more about dat."

It was later in the day and Rogue was looking forward to tonight. She was going out on a date with Vince tonight and was glad for the distraction from everything. She really needed to get away and have some fun.

"Hello chere." Gambit said seemingly to come out of nowhere.

Rogue groaned inward. 'Doesn't this guy give up? I mean it was kind of flattering at first but this is getting kind of stalker like.' She turned to face the Cajun with a look of annoyance on her face. "What the Hell do ya want NOW?"

He just grinned at her. "You know, Gambit was wondering if those feelings you had for Remy were stronger then you care to admit." He leaned in closer and his voice dropped slightly. "Maybe all dey need is a little something to help dem to de surface."

Then he suddenly pressed up against her and kissed her hard, she was surprised at the sudden movement but after a second she pushed him back easily with her strength and then angrily punched him in the face. Gambit was send back a few feet into the opposite wall and he groaned a little as he slowly got up.

"What is wrong with ya?" She shouted angrily at him, wiping her mouth. "What part of 'no' and 'ah'm taken' do ya not understand?"

Gambit leaned back on the far wall. "Gambit knows dat dere is a chance for us working out chere, I heard about that little trip you and de others took, and I know there are versions of us out der already together."

Rogue was shocked at that, she also made a mental note to find who told him that and get them for it. "First off those don't apply here since this reality is different. And when we first met what did ya do? YA tried to blow up mah hand!" Gambit was about to say something but she stopped him.

"Oh no, you're goin' ta let meh finish! Then ya used meh for your own gains, coverin' it up as tryin' ta help meh, when we went to New Orleans."

She took a few angry steps forward then. "Do ya know how much that hurt me? Do ya? Ah mean do ya know what's it's like to be used constantly by others? Do ya know how much it hurts?" Gambit was struck silent by that. He did use her, but he never mean to hurt her, and it was apparent he had hurt her deeply by his deception.

Rogue went on after she made sure he wasn't going to say anything. "Besides ya think ah could just throw everything ah got away for you? What do you even know about meh? Do ya know my favorite color, music or anything about meh? And I don't know a thing about you."

Then she stepped right up to him and started to poke him in the chest. "Ah mean...where were ya when ah still couldn't control mah powers? Where you there ta make meh feel good? Ta make meh laugh, to comfort meh? Ah mean where were ya when I was worried sick about Kurt? Was that you that made meh feel better?"

Gambit couldn't respond to her questions.

"No you weren't." Rogue said evenly. "But he was...he's been there for meh...and ah love him...get that through your head." As she poked him on his forehead with the finger she had used on his chest earlier. "Ah-Love-him. Ah mean it when ah say it, have you ever said that about someone and meant it?"

When he didn't respond she took that as a no. "Now ah'm goin' ta pretend that kiss never happened." She moved closer to him and poked him in the chest. "But if ya ever force yourelf on meh like that again." She said dangerously. "Ah will break every bone in your body." With that she walked off leaving Gambit against the wall.

He just stood there more a moment watching her walk away and he knew at that moment, he didn't stand a chance at her. He normally didn't fail to get what he wanted but considering everything she had just told him, he knew there was no way to make her chose him. None of his charm could do anything for once in his life.

He walked off trying to ignore the slight pain in his back from hitting that wall and decided to think on things. He had some decisions to make especially since the one reason he had chosen to stay here was no longer his one reason.

He walked off in a bad mood. He knew the only reason he couldn't get anywhere was because on a certain obstacle. He walked on in a dark mood until he decided to walk outside and get some air. He found a nice quiet spot to think.

He leaned against a tree on his shoulder staring into the distance, he never heard him coming until he actually spoke. "What the Hell did you do to her?" Came a cold voice with a dangerous tone in it. Gambit was startled and turned to see Vincent there with a not so pleasant look on his face.

"I just saw her and not only is she upset and won't tell me why, but she couldn't seem to look at me in the face." He said angrily, slowly moving towards him. "Now I know her well enough to know when she's upset and hiding it, and I know it's not the normal kind like Bobby pulling a prank on her, cause she would have gone after him. Now I KNOW you've been going after her, so you better tell me what you did to her."

Gambit didn't know why he said what he said, maybe he wanted to get even, maybe he just wanted to see his reaction, but he knew as soon as he said it, that it was the wrong thing to say. "I kissed her." The next thing he knew he was laying a few feet away with a very sore jaw.

He looked up to see a very pissed off guy not too far from him. He saw his eyes had taken on that eerie crimson glow and his face was a mask of anger. Now he knew he was in trouble, so he figured he would do what he always did, fight dirty.

He slowly got to his knees and turned slightly with his hand that was hidden he took one of his cards and was about to put a charge into it. Vincent walked right up to him furious he grabbed him by the back of his shirt but he realized too late that he let his anger take over.

He didn't see the charged card until it was too late. Gambit managed to quickly get out of his grip and throw the card right into his face. The card exploded and Vincent then was blinded by the force of the explosion and he let out a small yell as he covered his eyes.

He staggered back and Gambit knowing that this was one of those fights where you can't let up since he could come back at him with more force then Gambit could send out at him. So he took out several of his cards, charged them and threw them at him. They all hit home and he heard the other guy grunt but other then that there was no effect.

"Oh non." He said as he saw the other boy stand up. He still had his eyes closed with some black on his face from the explosion. He figured without any sight the fight was over. Big mistake on his part, as soon as he took a few steps he saw his head move slightly as if listening and suddenly Gambit was suddenly tackled very quickly by Vincent.

To Gambit it felt like he was just flattened by a truck but he wasn't one to give up. He rolled away and then both boys went at it some more. Not long someone had seen the fight and had found Beast. He charged to the scene as fast as possible and saw Gambit in a headlock by Vincent.

"Alright that's enough both of you!" Best shouted to the two boys, they both seemed to pull apart from each other. Beast saw some bruises on Gambit and notice Vincent had his eye closed with some black residue and some singed and ruined clothing.

"What's wrong with your eyes?" He asked still mad at the two of them.

"You ever get something stuck in your eye?" He said with a harsh tone. "Think that only worse."

Beast sighed to himself and had to help him to the medical room and he had to take a look at him and Gambit. Remy's injuries were superficial and when Beast asked him if he wanted Gale to fix them he said no. So Beast sent him to his room while he looked over Vincent's eyes.

Gambit went straight to his room, luckily Warren wasn't there and he was glad, he needed time to think on things. He stretched out on his bed and thought about everything. He thought about how his life he always did was he was told to by others, how he blindly followed orders, most of those times he had hated his work...but there were also times he enjoyed it. In fact he missed some of what he used to do. He missed the challenges, the freedom, the rush.

Here at the Institute he only had one friend in Colossus, just like in the Acolytes. He thought about the three groups he had joined in his life. The Thieves Guild had been his family, they trained him, but he never felt like he was completely accepted with his mutation. Plus he was just being used.

When Magneto had busted him out of that jail after he had been sold out by his 'brothers' in the guild, he had owed Magneto. Plus he sure wasn't planning on going back after that. But even though he had been among other mutants, but he didn't like Magneto's ideas or the way he went about them, but he had nowhere else to go at the time.

Now he was at Xavier's. The place was built on the ideals that humans and mutants could co-exist. After everything Gambit had seen in life he wasn't so sure it was possible. But there had been one reason he stayed. He had been infatuated with the girl since he first saw her, but it was apparent that she would never like him more then that other guy.

Strange. He thought to himself. He had never failed to get a girl to fall for him but this was a first for him, and even though he didn't like the feeling, he wasn't as crushed as he thought. Then her words sunk in again. He thought about them. What DID he know about the girl? Not much, was his answer, and besides her looks, what was it he liked about her.

Okay she was a strong willed girl, had some troubles with her past but what else? He tried to think of anything but nothing relevant came to mind. Was he chasing her because he cared for her or was it just another challenge for him? Did he love her or was it just a mere physical attraction? He wasn't sure and he got the feeling that if he didn't know that wasn't a good sigh.

He got up and sat up on his bed and looked out the large window. He looked outside and thought about everything. "What the hell am I even doin' here?" He asked himself. What was the point for him to be here if there was no real reason. Besides he felt like he had lost himself, that he didn't know who he was anymore.

What was that Pyro said once? That thing the tribes did in his homeland? A walkabout wasn't it? Going out into the world to try and find your self. To find himself...yeah that sounded like what he needed to do.

THE NEXT MORNING

After a quick breakfast Gambit went straight to the Professor. He was at his desk waiting for him since the events of yesterday. "Remy, I can understand that adjusting to new environments can be hard, but I need to know what that fight yesterday was about. Luckily Vincent suffered no permanent damage to his eyes and is fine now, but he's not saying anything about what caused the fight in the first place."

Gambit shrugged. "It does not matter anymore. It's settled."

Xavier grew stern and more forceful. "If you wish to continue living under this roof young man you should learn that certain actions are not permitted. Vincent is already going to be grounded to the mansion for the week and will be helping out around the mansion, as for you I would like to know what this was about before I hand down your own punishment."

"Well den I guess you won't know, and I won't be punished." He said with a smile. Xavier's head was raised back and he was surprised at this. "You see Gambit is leaving."

Xavier was shocked by this. "Gambit just because you had a fight and-"

But Gambit interrupted him. "I told you that business is finished and has nothing to do with my decision. Remy no longer know where I belong in dis world and Remy feels he needs to go and find out. Remy does appreciate your kindness, but Remy just doesn't feel this place is for him...at least...not in dis stage of his life."

Xavier didn't know what to say, he had hoped that Gambit would reconsider and he tried to talk to the young man about it but it soon became apparent that he couldn't change his mind. "So then...when are you leaving?"

"Gambit thinks dat the sooner de better, so Gambit will be packing all his stuff and leaving today."

An hour later the entire mansion knew about his decision. The reactions varied. Piotr was of course sadden that his only friend from the Acolytes was leaving while other like Scott who didn't really like him to begin with were not that sad to see him leave.

Rogue was actually a little grateful, since the events of yesterday she wasn't sure she wanted to be around him. Blink on the other hand felt a little crushed. She had learned that Gambit was leaving and also heard the fight between him and Vincent.

She sat in her room wondering why the fight. Then Amanda had told her, what Kurt had told her that Rogue had confessed to him. That Remy had kissed Rogue forcefully, Amanda told her that Kurt was ready to actually hurt Remy for what he did to his sister, but Rogue made him promise not to do anything. Blink had listened in to the story only with half an ear.

'See told you he didn't like you that way.' Her inner voice scolded her. She felt so embarrassed that she thought he had an interest in her. She also felt slightly crushed.

Amada was still talking about how she had to help keep Kurt calm and not to break his promise to his sister about not getting back at Remy. "You know what started it too? I mean apparently someone told him about how in those other realities Remy and her were a couple and he took that as a sign or something that they were meant to be together."

After that Blink didn't hear a word. The same horrible thought kept going through her mind. 'He used me.' Over and over again. Now she felt even worse, she felt betrayed, used, and wanted to crawl away somewhere to die. When Amanda asked what was wrong seeing the look on her roommate and friend's face Blink just made up some excuse and quickly made a portal to green house.

While there she checked that she was alone. She sat on one of the stools looking at the plants and trying to forget today, but she couldn't. Instead she rested her elbows on one of the tables held her head in her hands and started to cry. 'Told you no one would like you like that.' Said that familiar inner voice.

**LATER**

It took Gambit an hour to pack up his clothing in his traveling sack. His ex-roommate Warren looked like he was struggling between you that he wasn't going to be his roommate anymore and slightly sad about they way he was leaving. He didn't say anything to him, or helped him he just stayed out of his way and frankly Gambit preferred that.

He walked to the garage where his bike was and strapped his stuff to the back. He walked his bike out of the garage, he had avoided all the goodbyes, he hated those. He preferred to leave without a trace, kind of a habit he picked up by being a thief.

As he got out he saw Piotr at the entrance to the mansion. Gambit smiled and gave the big guy a salute and hoped on his bike and started the engine. He left the grounds without looking back and as the wind blew through his hair he had to admit...he felt free for the first time in years.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 19: SERIOUS TALKS**

Don't worry Remy fans, I got a story that deals with what happens to him after he leaves called Gambit's Story sometime in the future.


	19. Serious Talks

Evil-Bunny-Leader: Yes I am, but not after I'm done with this story at least. You know you're the second person that asked that Blink/Vincent thing. Well I don't think that will happen in this series, but check out Exiles that I'm writing with The Uncanny R-Man. There's a link to the story in my bio.

pippo23: You've been reading since I started?! And you reviewed only now? Well better late then never, lol. Currently the number of stories is...oh god it's 6 now...I need a life. Yeah I had a little trouble with thinking up a climax, but luckily I managed to get through it. Thanks for reviewing and don't be afraid to do it again.

slickboy444: Actually that ended things if you missed it, but it will send him on his way to find someone that's more of a kindred spirit to him in his own story.

Aaron: Yeah he sure left the place with a bad impression huh? And you'll see what happens later on.

Xmenfan: Well I agree with you that's why I did this chapter, you'll see Wanda bonding with Ororo and Blink in this, but I haven't thought of a mission for them...yet.

Scott fan: Did you like ANYONE beside her? I will write that Gambit story, it's not like you have to read it or anything. And it really bums me out that you don't like one of my OC so much, but I take it you never read any of my other work besides this from what you put down though. Although you are in the minority that you don't like him or anything else too, so I'll say what it says in my bio; If you don't like it, then don't read it.

Uncanny R-Man: Yeah that did suck for her, as for Remy you'll find out later when I do the story.

DemonRogue13: Don't worry I plan on her finding someone that will appreciate her one day, but it might take a little while to set it up, but I think you'll like it.

Ldypebsaby: Yeah I kind of feel bad for using Blink, but I needed someone a little naïve and trusting, and sometime after this Gambit will get his own little story. The talks are basically with Ororo, Blink & Wanda and another one too.

Thanks to: Red Witch, fire inu, supergirlhv, jadestar123, LadyDeathStrike1, Ruby631

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS  
  
CHAPTER 19: SERIOUS TALKS**

Blink was quiet the next day after Gambit had gone. She was just feeling like the world's biggest idiot. Luckily years of being ignore and how to blend into the background came in handy as she got through breakfast without having to talk to anyone. She didn't want to anyway.

At least she thought no one noticed her. Ororo on the other hand had noticed, and it worried her. Usually Blink got up and helped her with breakfast, but she hadn't shown up and she seemed to be so quiet and was trying to distance herself from everyone. Ororo frowned at that. She had made such progress since she started living with them and she was afraid she was going to go back to the old way that she was. All repressed and scared of the world.

After breakfast Ororo started to look for Blink. She checked her room, then the den and then the game room but she didn't find her. When she asked around no one had seen her. Now she was worrying, but then she thought of the one place Clarice would go. Ororo made her way to the attic lever and to indoor greenhouse.

As she went in she saw Blink there sitting on a stool tending a small flower. "I know I was an idiot, but I just, you know. Wanted to feel like someone was interested in me." Ororo walked silently to Blink listening as she talked to the plant. "I'm guessing it was too much to hope for, I mean all my life all the boys just seem to ignore me and pass me by...I don't think I'll ever know what it's like to be in love."

"That's not true Clarice." Ororo said gently to her. Blink jumped and looked at her, Ororo got a concerned look as she saw the tears in her eyes and Blink quickly looked away and wipe the tears away.

"H-h-how long have you been there?" She asked.

"Not long...but long enough to know something is upsetting you." Ororo said to her holding the young girl from behind. "Please Clarice...tell me what's wrong."

"You won't like it." She said to her sadly.

"Try me."

**OUTSIDE**

Five minutes later a few of the mutants were outside playing some catch when a giant sound of thunder could be heard. Roberto looked up into the sky and saw a few dark clouds. "Hey I thought the weather man said that we wouldn't see any rain for a few more days?" He said to the others.

"Well either he was wrong or someone pissed of Storm." Bobby said.

"What could make her mad enough to do that?" Sam asked the others just shrugged before going back to their game.

**GREEN HOUSE**

Storm was still angry at what had happened to Clarice. She was too nice and sweet a girl to have her emotions played with like that, and she swore if she ever saw Gambit again she would skin that boy alive. But she calmed herself knowing it was too late to do anything now, so she focused on Clarice.

Blink currently was just being glad that she was in Ororo's arms. It felt better somehow and she also felt a little better telling someone about her feelings, sure the pain was still there but not as much. "Clarice." Ororo said softly and she looked up into the face of her guardian. "I know you were hurt but don't let this experience keep you down. You will find someone out there that will care for you, you know why?"

She shook her head. "Because you're a bright, kind and beautiful young lady and any boy would be lucky to have you." She said smiling at her.

Blink couldn't help but smile at her kind words. "Thanks Ororo." She said softly.

Ororo let go of her and took her hand. "Now why don't we go to the gazebo and have some tea together?" Blink nodded and smiled she loved the view of the water from there since it was right next to the cliffs. They walked down to the kitchen to get the tea supplies they would need.

**ELSEWARE IN THE MANSION**

Wanda had a break for the moment from her studying in the library with Sarah. Hank had just finished a lesson in science and she was glad for the break. It was just so frustrating for her to try and catch up, and she only had about one month left until school started.

She stormed her way to the kitchen going for something to drink and saw Blink and Ororo already there with a tray and some tea stuff on it. She went to the fridge and opened it to see if there was anything to drink.

"Is something wrong Wanda?" Ororo asked seeing the obvious bad mood she was in.

She slammed the door shut. "What makes you say that?" She said sarcastically. Wanda saw the stern look on Ororo's face from her attitude and Wanda sighed trying to calm herself like Agatha Harkness had tried to teach her. "Sorry it's just that...arg! I hate all this studying and everything, I'm trying but I've missed so much and then I still got to worry about what actually happens when I go to school and it's just...overwhelming!"

Ororo looked at the eighteen year old Goth and saw that she desperately needed something to take her mind of things. She gave Blink a questioning look and she nodded. "Wanda why don't you join me and Clarice."

"Thanks...but I'm not the social type."

"Please." Ororo said stepping towards the girl and putting a hand on her arm. "It might do you some good."

Wanda sighed and decided she might as well try it, since Xavier had told her to try and join in with the others in their activities. "Alright." She said flatly. She joined with the two others hoping to at least kill sometime. When they got to the repaired gazebo (it had to be after Rogue pushed that stone statue of Mystique off of it a few months back) and Wanda looked out to the water and was surprised by the beauty of the view. She had never gone to this spot and it was nice. They sat down and Wanda looked at the tea for a moment since she never really had some before but shrugged slightly and took a sip.

It was actually pretty good.

"So besides the studying how are you doing so far at the Institute?" Ororo asked her.

Wanda thought about her answer. "It's different...the living conditions are better, but there's a lot more people around then I'm used to."

"Well it's not easy to have your life suddenly change." Ororo said softly.

"Tell me about it!" Wanda said angrily. "First off my so-called father is never around much, I get sent to a nut house cause he was to incompetent as a parent to deal with me, Mystique gets me out, then the my mind get altered, I find out everyone in the house new it and finally now I'm living with the people that used to be the enemy!"

Clarice was stunned by Wanda's slight rant, looking back on things she felt a little better when comparing her life so far with hers. At least she had a childhood, unlike Wanda. "Was your father really that bad before he went...well...you know." Blink asked.

Wanda gave the younger girl a sharp look. "You mean before his world domination thing, well he wasn't as bad as he is now, but he did send me to that place." Sudden her whole demeanor suddenly changed and her voice got soft as she looked into her tea. "I hated that place...I was afraid all the time."

Ororo got a concerned look on her face. "They didn't hurt you did they, you no one...took advantage of you?"

Wanda shook her head. "No...but sometimes I was afraid someone might get the courage to try."

"I know the feeling." Blink said surprising everyone. She looked up at them slightly and then dropped her head. "Back when I was given over to Trask and the others...you know they knocked us out and we woke up in that cell with those uniform things on?"

Both had heard about that and nodded. "Well I suddenly got scared, because after I stopped freaking out on where I was I suddenly thought of how I got into that...then I wondered...if...if...someone took advantage of me when I was out."

Ororo got a sickened look on her face and Wanda could only look on in sympathy. "You weren't..." Ororo asked she couldn't find the strength to finish.

"No...I wasn't." Blink said to them. Both women let go of a breath they hadn't realized they were holding. "When we got back here I ask Mr. McCoy if he could check that out...after he examined me to make sure he told me there were no sighs that I was taken advantaged of. I felt better after that, but I was still stripped down and put into that thing. The fact that people, even doctors did that to me without my knowledge or consent...well...I still get nightmares."

"Jesus Blink." Wanda said softly.

Ororo held the younger girl's hand. "Believe me I know...when my parents died and me and my sister had to survive on the streets we were offered a ride by this man." Ororo closed her eyes at the memory of it all. "You see...he tried to force himself on us, my older sister tried to stop him but he hit her...then he went down on her...I couldn't let it happen, so I got out a knife I carried and I...I stabbed him in the back." (1)

The two girls both couldn't help but gasp at that. Ororo couldn't face them and turned her head. "I...I think I killed him...I'm not sure but I think I did, I just grabbed my sister and ran far away from the city...on that day I swore never to take another life again."

There was a moment of silence at the small table. All three of them had shared their fears and couldn't help but wonder at what they had learned about one another. "You did what you had to do to protect your sister...I don't blame you for that." Wanda said breaking the silence.

"Neither to I." Blink said softly to her. Ororo faced the girls again with misty eyes.

"Thanks you." He said in almost a whisper. All three girls took a few minutes to drink their tea and let them have a moment of silence. Soon they started to talk again but now they tried to keep it more pleasant.

While this was going on Rogue had other things on her mind and was walking the halls to Jean's room. She walked to Jean's door. 'God ah can't believe ah'm going to her for advice.' She thought to herself. She looked in and saw her putting away her laundry. "Hey ah talk to ya?"

Jean looked up and smiled. "Of course Rogue, come in." Rogue walked in and closed the door behind her, she didn't want anyone to overhear this.

She sat down on the bed and Jean noticed the mood she was in and found this was one of the serious talked. "Okay look...ah know you and meh haven't been...close in tha past. But I can't ask Ororo, there's no way I could face tha Professor, Hank maybe later, and there's no way in Hell I'm talking to Logan about this and since you're the only girl here that's gone through it...well...you're mah only choice."

Jean was half delighted to have her come to her, but also half hurt that it was because it was by default. "Alright." She said seriously then sat down next to her. "What is it?"

Rogue bit her lower lip, she had been thinking about this ever since the little sleepover they had and she had to talk to someone about it. "When did ya know ya was ready for sex?"

Jean's mouth dropped at the question but quickly composed herself. "Well...that's not an easy on to ask or answer...well...for me Scott and myself talked about it first thing, have you done that?"

"Not...really. We both agreed that we'd wait until we were both eighteen at least since then Logan might and ah quote 'take off a certain part of his anatomy with his claws' unquote." Rogue had to smirk at the face he had made when he had said that. "But since he's turning eighteen in a few days then ah guess we should talk about it more."

Jean nodded. "Trust me this is an important decision. I mean Scott and me took months before either of us felt ready. Plus we both took precautions too. I mean you know that I asked Hank for birth control and he said he would help out since he did say we could come to him under any medical reason and if it wasn't life threatening, he wouldn't tell the Professor."

Rogue had to smile at the image she got of Beast's face when Jean laid that bombshell on him. "Ah bet he wises he never said that now."

Jean couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Yeah and with a few of the other girls getting close to their later teens I bet he can find himself getting a few more visitors."

Rogue laughed out loud at the thought. "Oh God ah feel so sorry for him now." She said between laughs, soon Jean joined in after a moment Rogue wiped her eyes from a few tears. After the she got a little more serious. "So ah should talk ta him about this and maybe see Hank after huh?"

"It couldn't hurt if you are thinking about it...well, and it good to be prepared." Jean told her. "I mean I do not want to have to tell my parents I'm pregnant until after I'm married for starters."

"Do they know you and Scott are...that involved?" Rogue asked curious. Seeing as neither she nor Vincent didn't have to worry about telling their parents. Well Vincent did had Father Michaels who was the closest thing he had to an actual dad in his life, and she didn't count Mystique as a mother given their past.

"Oh God no!" Jean said running a hand throw her hair. "I can just imaging my dad's reaction and my mom...I don't want to have THAT kind of talk with her. All they know is that we're together and I want to keep it that way. It's bad enough about half the mansion knows about it, I'm just glad so far Logan or the Professor don't know."

Rogue could sympathize. After Logan's reaction to that little sex prank she and Vince pulled on Kurt a little while ago, she could imagine his reaction. "Well I think ah got someone ta talk to now. Logan has him outside trimming all the hedges without using his speed or anything."

"Oh man that will take him hours to do." Jean said feeling sorry for the guy. "But he did get into that fight with Gambit."

Rogue sighed. "Ah know, ah know, believe meh he doesn't like tha fact that he's grounded for his birthday, but I also think he's slightly ashamed he let himself lose it like that. He ain't happy about it but he understands it though." She got up to leave. "Well maybe ah'll take him some water while ah go to see him, he could use it in this heat." She got up to leave then.

"Oh Rogue...thanks for coming to me about this...I know I'm not your first choice but thanks for coming to me anyway." Jean said to her. "Oh and if you feel like talking again you can come to me...also...you might want to have Vincent talk to Scott too. I think they can only have a talk that guys can have."

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Ah'm sure he'll 'love' that. But thanks for the offer though, ah mean it, where is Scott any way?"

"He's getting some quality brother time with Alex I heard, so he should be back by the time Vincent is done at least." Jean told her. Rogue nodded and left to have a very serious talk with her boyfriend.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 20: NIGHTMARES**

**Sarah (X-23) has a nightmare of her past at HYDRA and things don't go well for her after she wakes up. I'd like to thank LadyDeathStrike1 for offering me the idea and the writing she sent to me to start this off with. (sorry I lost the original work I'll try my best to re-write it and add my own style to it)**

1) **This happened in Uncanny X-Men #267 (minus the sister thing of course since she doesn't exist in the comics)**


	20. Nightmares

pippo23: Well thanks for the kind words and support, unfortunately I have no clue as to how people actually read my work unless they review. And if you think this is something, try reading all of Red Witch's work, she's got like 400 and counting.

Ruby631: lol, loved that bit you had in the review. Not sure if I could fit that in since I passed it, maybe in a flash back or something.

Sparky Genocide: I don't really like Gambit, besides I had this great story for him and I needed him to leave for it, plus the fight wasn't exactly near fatal, just temporary blinded from the fragments, believe me Gambit was in more trouble in that fight if he wasn't blinded.

The Uncanny R-Man: Glad you liked it, and yeah Scott won't exactly like that little talk, but then what guy would?

slickboy444: Thanks, it took a little time for me to figure out exactly how to pull it off, I wanted a really serious and emotional talk with those three. The Jean and Rogue one was also serious but less so then the other to help lighten it a bit.

Red Witch: Expelled on the first day? Well maybe a student or two might have to home schooled but we'll just have to see when they go to school.

Scott Fan: I see your points, but first I just had an idea for an OC I had to get out, personally I do have better ones, Gambit was a jerk in the series (at lest to me he was), I didn't chose to pair that OC up with Rogue, I left that to a vote to the readers, twice and he won out both times so don't blame me for that, and it was my first try at a triangle so sorry to disappoint. It seems you really don't like this fic so I got to ask...why are you still reading?

Xmenfan: Sorry Remy's gone remember? I had to end the triangle there. Plus don't forget this is 6th in a series don't forget to look at the earlier works too and don't forget I held a vote on who Rogue would chose earlier remember? Well Gambit lost the vote, sorry no Romy anymore. Glad you like the two 'talks' scenes, and you will see Wanda on a mission soon.

Ldypebsaby: Well I wanted a serious yet slightly a little more light hearted one, and besides after that first one with Wanda, Ororo and Blink I just couldn't top it.

Thanks to: DemonRogue13

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 20: NIGHTMARES**

She was floating.

That was what she was feeling she slowly opened her eyes but everything had a green tint to it and the outside was warped slightly. She realized it was glass not far from her face. Her hands itched, and now so did her feet.

She tried to move but her muscles seemed tired to her and unable to move. 'Where am I? What's going on? Why am I here, what's going on?' She was on the verge of panicking. Then the itching sensation suddenly became a burning one. Her hands and feet felt like fire, she tried to cry out but realized she had something over her mouth feeding her air and her cries were muffled.

'It hurts, somebody stop this! Please!' She tried the trash but her body wouldn't move. The pain seemed to increase as the burning got hotter and seemed to travel up her arms and to the back of her heels. She gave another muffled cry. 'PLEASE STOP!' She silently said in her mind. She would have cried but the liquid she was floating in seemed to absorb her tears.

Then the burning seemed to cool and the itching was back only now a tingling was there too. Then it happened.

A sharp pain ripped through her hands and feet. She screamed as it happened as her flesh was cut and torn away. Her back arched and her head actually flung back as her body actually trembled slightly from the pain of it.

She managed to move her head slightly down and has raised her arms slightly she looked at her bandaged hands and was surprised and horrified by seeing two metallic blades coming out of her hands. 'What am I? WHAT DID THEY DO TO ME?'

She cried out in the darkness unleashing her hand claws ready to attack, her body covered in sweet. A figure loomed over her and she reacted by pure instinct. Tackling the shadowy figure to the ground ready to strike.

"OW! SARAH STOP!" Said a familiar voice causing her to stop and she blinked and looked closely in the darkness. "It's me...Paige."

Sarah was surprised by this and then she felt something on her hand and caught a sent. It was blood. Paige's blood. "Oh no." Sarah whispered. She got up and quickly fumbled for the lamp near by and flicked it on. She looked at to her horror Paige was holding her arm as it was bleeding.

"I'm sorry I'm so sorry, I-I didn't, I thought you were-I have to stop the bleeding!" Sarah frantically tore some of her sheets and began to wrap it around Paige's arm. The door to their room opened at that moment and Jubilee and Rahne still in their sleep wear and with slightly messed up bed hair walked in.

"Guys what is going on in here, it the middle of the-OH MY GOD PAIGE!" Jubilee scrambled to the young blond girl.

Rahne was right on her heels and turned to Sarah. "Sarah what happened?" The young Scott asked.

"I-I-I didn't mean to, it was an accident." Sarah said to the red head.

"What do ye mean? What happened?" Rahne asked moving closer to the distressed girl. Sarah couldn't stand it any more and she bolted from the room. She didn't know what to do, all she knew was that she had hurt the first friend she ever had and worse was that she could have killed her. She raced down the halls ignoring others as they emerged from their rooms and their questions. She ran to the front door and outside.

Her mind was frantic and she just had to get away. She saw the woods and ran towards it. Nothing really registered in her mind as she thought back to how Paige looked with the two cuts and the blood. She didn't notice how it had started to rain or how her bare feet started to step in wet grass then mud as the rainwater seeped into the ground.

She wasn't sure why she was running only that she had to get away. She came to a running stop somewhere in the wooded area. She pushed away her long hair that was in her face as she walked on not caring that she was getting soaked and her feet and the bottom of her cotton pants getting muddy from the ground.

At one point she just dropped to her knees as the voices of her past came back to haunt her.

_She's just a weapon, she has no feelings, she was made to do one thing and one thing only...TO KILL!_

Was that all she was? Just a weapon? She didn't want to be that, she didn't want to kill, she was done with that part of her life after she took out the HYDRA Commander. HYRDA wasn't after her anymore, she thought she was free of them...but she wasn't...after everything they had done to her she would never be totally free of them.

She didn't want to be a weapon to kill, she didn't want to be that but tonight she nearly killed her best friend. She bound her fist into the soft fresh mud in anger at herself. She threw back her head and gave an anguish cry of pain and rage into the stormy night.

She took out her claws and looked at them with contempt. They were her best weapons and yet she hated them too, they were a symbol of what was don't to her.

_She's just a weapon, she has no feelings_

Was that true? Did she feel anything? Was she even human? She was born in a lab did that make her even a living being? She saw her claws in the flash of lighting and she could still smell Paige's blood on her. Was she a living person? Did a person nearly kill their friend like she did?

Does she really feel any pain? With a shaking hand she raised one of her claws and began to cut her other arm slightly seeing the wounds and felt the pain. 'I can feel pain...so why can't I feel anything else?'

It just seemed that most of her life was filled with pain. She stopped cutting herself and noticed the blood stopped flowing and soon the cuts healed over.

"WHAT-AM-I?" She screamed into the night through the rain and sounds of thunder and wind. Images and memories of the labs, the 'training' of the conditioning she had to endure. All her life flashed before her, all the cruelty, the loneliness and all the pain.

Then all she felt was her rage. Her anger at what was done to her, all the hatred she held for HYRDA, and even herself for what she had nearly done earlier. She exploded then, all the claws out and she attacked anything around her.

Trees, rocks, fallen logs, she didn't care she just wanted to take out her rage and pain out on something, anything. She just attacked blindly not caring what it was she just kept going until without know it something blocked her claws. Through instinct and training she focused on what ever it was and attacked again with her other hand but that too was blocked.

She was so confused and lost in her own world of pain and anguish she didn't notice that it was another pair of adamantium claws that were blocking hers, but she was just going on instinct now. All she knew was that this was something to focus her pain on.

After a minute something grabbed her wrists. "Kid snap out of it!" She was sure the voice was familiar and she stopped and looked up. In the flash of a lightning bolt she saw it was Logan. She stopped her attacks then and she started to relax slightly and retracted her claws.

She looked away from him unable to look into his eyes. Logan gently let go of her wrists and then put them on her shoulders. "It's going to be alright."

"No! I-I hurt her, she-she could have been killed." She choked out her voice cracking slightly as a wave of remorse and sadness started to replace the pain and anger. "I could have killed my friend." She said sadly fighting back the tears being thankful for the rain falling that would hide any tears that fell from her face.

Logan could relate to the kid. He too had had nightmares of the past that had caused him to lose his delicate control over his more aggressive side. He brought her close and held her. "It's going to be alright kid, she's going to be fine and so are you." He said softly to her.

All her life she had lived without anyone caring for her. She never had someone be kind to her, to show her affection...or to love her. But every time this man held her she felt warm and safe in his arms. She could feel how he cared for her like she was truly his daughter and not just some clone. She couldn't stop it any more, the emotions had swelled up inside of her and she broke down crying.

She couldn't help it. Even after what she had done he was willing to forgive her and he still accepted her. Logan felt both sadness and anger. Sadness at what was done to this kid and anger at those that did it, he knew that if she hadn't take out those responsible he would have at that moment. Then he tilted his head as Xavier contacted him and after what he said Logan smiled slightly.

"Well it seems your friend is just fine." He said soothing to her, her crying lessened as she tried to pay attention to his words. "Turns out they didn't even to need to use Gale's powers. Paige's skin ripped and it turns out the skin underneath wasn't injured so all they had to do was just rip off the damaged outer layer and she was just fine. I guess she can heal faster then us."

Sarah felt a lot better that Paige was all right, but how could she face her and the others after that.

"She also sent a message to ya." Logan said. "It was just an accident, I don't blame you."

Sarah felt a lot better on hearing that she was fine, but she didn't know if she could still face the girl, not after what had happened.

"Come on let's get you back, you're going to catch a cold or something out here." Logan said softly to her.

"I don't get sick." She said nearly a whisper but his hearing picked it up anyways.

"Hey it's a father's duty to worry about their kid so indulge me." He said with a small grin trying to make light of the situation. Sarah gave a small but it didn't last long as she leaned against his shoulder on the walk back. With the adrenaline gone from her system her whole body was now tired. It was still late in the night and she didn't get a decent sleep. Plus the running and venting herself left her physically and emotionally drained too.

By the time they got back to the front entrance she moved her damp hair away and saw Ororo in a bathrobe there with towels. Logan smiled seeing her there ready for them. She smiled and handed them the towels to dry off. "Thanks Ro." Logan said to her.

She smiled and nodded to him. "I thought you two would need these."

Logan had to admit Ororo was always the 'mother' type. "So where's little hayseed?" He asked referring to Paige.

"She's in the medical ward right now. Hank wanted to make sure her powers had completely healed her body since this is something unforeseen that she could do." Then Ororo turned to Sarah. "But she seemed find and was worried about you."

Sarah looked surprised at that. She still couldn't believe that after that Paige was actually WORRIED about her. "C-can I see her?" She asked the taller lady.

Storm frowned a little. "Sorry, Hank wants her to rest up since it's late...but you can in the morning." Sarah nodded in understanding and started to walk to bed but halfway up the stairs she felt tired and had to grab the railing as her head swam a little from exhaustion.

Logan was next to her quickly and helped her up. "I'm fine." Sarah nearly hissed out at him. She hated being weak and depending of others at times.

"Bull, you're barely standing." Logan said sternly and then he picked her up into his arms.

"Put me down." She said with a little more force in her words.

Logan only grinned. "Well if you think you can take me then try it, if not then I'm carrying you up to your room cause you can barely stand as it is." She didn't like being treated like a kid but even if she wouldn't admit it, she was tired and at the moment she really wanted to get some rest.

On the way Sarah stopped feeling embarrassed by her being carried and for some reason she relaxed. She felt safe in his arms and it was a strange sensation. She felt all warm and comfortable in his arms. Ever since she was a child she wanted to be held and cared for but she never was, this was the first time someone had held her like this and she was actually enjoying it.

She felt so warm, comfortable and safe. It was strange yet pleasant to her. She closed her eyes enjoying the sensations and silently slipped off to sleep as Logan got to her room. He noticed that she was asleep and couldn't help but smile down at her.

He gently laid her down on her bed and realized that those sheets would have to be cleaned the next day from the mud still on her clothing but he figured she could clean up in the morning. He sat down next to her on the bed looked down at his daughter. It was strange for him to think of himself as a parent but here he was.

He brushed the hair away from her face and gently stroked her cheek. She was a beautiful girl and he was glad she didn't get his looks, but he could see a little of himself in her slightly, especially in her eyes. He sighed to himself watching her sleep.

"Is she alright?" A silent voice asked him. He turned to see Ororo walking in and stopped next to him.

Logan sighed. "I just don't know...the kid's been through so much in her short life, she didn't deserve to grow up like that...no one does."

Ororo slowly nodded her head. "Yes...the world can be a cruel place at times, even to children." She looked on watching Logan look over her and couldn't help but smirk. "I always knew that you had a big heart inside that tough exterior."

Logan snorted at her words, but couldn't help a small smile. "Just don't go spreading that around, I got a reputation to keep. You know...I have no idea what I'm doing...I mean I got no experience being a parent and here I am with a teenaged daughter already...I tell you Ro...I'm not sure if I'm up to it."

Ororo placed a hand on his shoulder. "I think you're doing just fine, better then fine actually. No one is truly ready for this kind of reasonability. You can only do your best but so far I think you're doing great."

Logan smiled at her kind words and her faith in his abilities. "Yeah well, you're doing well by Clarice too."

Ororo sighed. "I just wish I don't fail her like I did with Evan." She said sadly going to the large window looking out into the raining night beyond it. Logan walked up behind her and placed his hands on he shoulders gently.

"You did your best for that kid, he was difficult from the get go, head strong, stubborn and impatient. We all did our best with him, especially you because you were family, but he made his own choices."

Ororo was grateful for his words, but she still felt she could have done something different and maybe he wouldn't have left like he did. "Thank you Logan, I think I'll get some sleep." Ororo told him and started to walk out but stopped as she saw Logan sit down on the bed across from Sarah. "Are you staying?"

Logan nodded. "Yeah, I just want to watch over her for a while, just in case she needs someone ya know?" He said refereeing to if she had anymore nightmares.

Ororo smiled at him sitting there watching protectively over her. 'You're a better father then you think Logan.' She thought to herself before retiring for the night.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 21: THE NEW TEAMS**

The X-Men meet a team under Fury and SHEILD...X-Force, and introducing the Hellions. Oh and this version of X-Force will have a different line-up then what was in the comics.


	21. The New Teams

Fire inu: Actually that was X-Factor I just changed the name to X-Force cause I liked it more, but basically yes that was it.

LadyDeathStrike1: Let's just say that when Fury arrives it won't be with welcome arms and I haven't forgotten about her either. X-Force was originally made up of the New Mutants under Cable and Donimo, but that fell apart a while back. It was basically a mutant strike tream.

cammy: Whoa that's a lot, okay I'll do this in order of your questions. I try to give X23 more depth as a character, I call them X-Force cause that fits more and personally X-Factor is kind of a lame name. Well I do got something for Pietro that you might like later on, and I'm glad you understand the Rogue/Vincent thing. Although someone called it Vogue once and I kind of liked it.

Ruby631: Yeah I wanted it to be longer but couldn't think of anything more to write, besides that was the perfect place to leave off.

The Uncanny R-Man: Yeah that's were I got those ideas from, only I used them differently. I'm thinking of Logan/Ororo but not too sure.

slickboy444: Thanks, I really tried to get those two closer together as a family and I've been thinking of having Ororo and Logan hook up. Then if they do I guess that will make Blink and Sarah 'sisters'.

Red Witch: Glade you liked their moment, and hope you like the line-up, let me just say it's different then what you'd expect it to be.

X00001: Hope you've read the past stories too since this is 6th in a series.

Thanks to: Ldypebsaby, Sparky Genocide, TheLegendaryManHimself

**AN: Sorry for the wait I was suspended for a week because an old story was a list fic and I didn't noticed that rule and it was taken off.**

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 21: THE NEW TEAMS**

The next morning Sarah stirred in her bed and slowly blinked her eyes open. She looked and saw the clock on her stand read seven in the morning and she slowly got up. It was then she noticed the dried mud on her and then she remembered what had happened last night. She had hoped that it had been a nightmare that it hadn't happened but it had.

She also noticed another sent in the room and on Paige's bed she saw Logan there fast asleep. She blinked at the sight of him still in the cloths from last night too. She wondered why he was still there she walked over to him and was about to shake him away when she stopped and decided to let him sleep some more.

She looked down at herself and sighed at her state then she looked to her bed and noticed mud stains and let out a low growl. She knew she would have to clean that up but first herself. She quietly picked out a black T-Shit and a pair of blue jeans and some black socks and went to the bathroom and gently closed the door.

She took a shower and mad sure to get all the old mud off of her body. She had to admit while she had been in the forests and wilderness by herself she always had to bath in cold water and it was a welcomed change to actually use warm water for once. She dried herself off and looked at herself in the mirror.

By looking at her you'd think she was just an average fourteen-year-old girl...but as she looked closer especially in her eyes they told another story. One of pain, suffering and hardship. She looked away not wanting to see anymore. She finished drying herself off and put on the new clothing.

She walked out with the wet towel and dirty clothing and noticed Logan was gone. She shrugged and placed the bundle of clothing she had in the hamper in her room for later. She also stripped off her muddy bed sheets and folded them up and placed them inside too. She would deal with them later after some more important business.

She walked down the halls knowing that most of the students were still sleeping in and made her way to the medical ward to see Paige. She wanted to apologies for last night to her, when she got close to there she heard some voices from the room.

"Will you let it go already?" Paige's voice yelled out.

"Paige she cut ya, and you're just lucky it wasn't worse or that your powers helped ya out." Came the worried voice of Sam, Paige's older brother.

"It was an _accident_, how many times to we have to go through this? Haven't you ever had an accident with your powers?"

"Well...that's not the point."

"Yes it is Sam, you may be my big brother and I know you're just worried about me but accidents happen all the time. Can you honestly say that if you hit someone by accident you wouldn't hurt them?" There was a moment of silence after that then she went on. "Look Sam, she's my friend and I know she didn't want to hurt me, she was having a nightmare and given what ah learned from her past it's no surprise. Besides you didn't see how freaked she was that she had hurt meh, she ran off scared about what she had done and ah'm worried about her."

Sarah was torn between walking away and avoiding Sam and going in to see Paige. She wasn't scared of Sam but she really didn't want to face him either. She didn't want to look into his eyes. When she heard Sam say he'd think about it and his footsteps getting closer she looked for a place to avoid him but there were no doors nearby.

Sam walked out of the medical ward and down the hall not bothering to look up and see Sarah up there stretched out on the ceiling holding herself up by her claws. When she was sure he was gone she dropped silently to the floor and retracted her claws.

She was glad she was bare foot seeing that she had to use her foot claws and those ruined her socks every time she used them. She walked into the medical room and stopped slightly. She suddenly got flashbacks to her time at Hydra and all the experiments and had a strong urge to get out of the room.

Paige had noticed her near the door. "Hey Sarah, I'm glad you came."

Sarah snapped out of her thoughts and walked solemnly to the other girl. She stopped by her bed side and she couldn't look into the other girl's eyes. "I'm sorry I hurt." She said in a near whisper she suddenly felt a hand on hers and looked up expecting to she her angry or something but she wasn't.

"I'm fine, I know you didn't mean it...so how are you doing. After you freaked out last night I was worried you left or something."

Sarah looked away again. "I think I nearly did...I...I never had a friend before...having friends like you make me feel." She searched for the words to describe what she was feeling. For so long all she felt was anger, hatred and fear. Now living here she was feeling new things and she liked them, they were much better then the only three emotions she ever remembered having.

But last night she experienced something else. She felt pain inside her without getting injured and it still hurt. She felt...bad, about what she had done. Very rarely did she ever feel bad about doing a lot of the things she had done, but last night she really hated what had happened.

"Happy?" Paige offered the slightly older girl.

Sarah thought about it. Was she happy now? Was living here and those warm feelings of comfort she was getting making her happy? "I think so." She said not completely sure but it felt right to say it, like it wasn't a lie to say so.

Paige could see that Sarah wasn't used to showing her emotions, at least when it wasn't her anger. She knew Sarah had had it tough, and she didn't want to know the kind of nightmares she had or the things she had gone through. She could also see that underneath the tough exterior was just a scared girl.

Paige swung her feet over the bedside so she was closer to her. "Hey you should be happy. You're not in a lab, on the run, being hunted, and you're in a place where you can belong and be safe and have friends like me. So what's not to be happy about?"

Sarah couldn't help but a small tug of her lips in a small short-lived smile at the girl's optimism. Just in the door opened with Jamie carrying a tray of food. "Hey I brought you-oops." He said seeing Sarah and Paige in there. "Sorry I thought I'd bring you breakfast since, well, Mr. McCoy said he wanted to run a few more tests and all."

Paige couldn't help but smile at his kindness and the growling in her stomach said it all. They all heard it and Paige blushed from embarrassment. "Uh...thanks."

"Well I better get going." Sarah said. "I should go and get something to eat too." She turned to Paige and nodded her. She left the room feeling a bit better about herself, she did feel bad about what she had done, but the pain she felt had seemed to lessen a little.

It was later in the day and things were getting back to normal. Most of the students were outside playing Sarah was sitting this one out, still a little wary of how the others would feel towards her and just watched from the sidelines next to Logan.

She felt content with just his presence there, it seemed to make her feel a little more at ease with him around. Then they both heard something in the distance. The others couldn't hear it yet but they both knew that sound.

Helicopters.

Logan stood up. "Everyone inside NOW!" He barked at them. Immediately they all stopped and with the way he had said it everyone scramble for the entrance since by just looking at how tense he looked, they knew something was up. Logan turned to Sarah. "Go inside and hide." She was about to argue saying she could take care of herself but he interrupted her. "Look just do it. If it's who I think it is I don't want him to see you."

She could think of only one person he was refereeing too so she nodded and left to go inside.

They all watched as the helicopters came and landed from the windows and when the blades stopped rotating the side door with the SHIELD logo on it slid open and in his usual trench coat and uniform out stepped Nick Fury. Some of the kids who saw him for the first time were a little surprised at how this man with graying hair, and an eye patch seemed to have a commanding presence around him.

He walked to the fountain out front and waited there.

Logan let out a low growl as he stepped out the front door and went to him. "What do ya want here bub?" Logan asked him the slight hostility in his voice evident.

Fury wasn't fazed by it. "Look Logan I know the girl is here." Logan tried no to let his surprise show on his face. "When you got those adoption papers it flagged something at SHEILD and when I looked into it a surveillance team identified her."

Logan gave a low growl. "You're not taking her Fury, she doesn't belong to ya."

Fury wasn't phased by it at all. "Are you going to stop me and my men?"

"Yeh." He said popping out the claws in his right hand.

"And he won't be alone either." Both turned to see Scott coming over with his visor on with Jean right behind him. He stood next to Logan and started right at Fury. "She belongs here with us."

"Why do you say that kid?" Fury asked.

"Because she's one of us." Jean said to him standing tall.

"And because she's our friend." Came yet another voice, this one of Paige walking out with Jamie, Rahne, even Sam.

"And we don't hand over our friends just like that." Fury and Logan looked up to see Vincent, Storm, Warren and Rogue hovering there in the air. Soon all the students were there standing defiantly at Fury, even the Professor himself was by the door looking calmly at him, but Fury only smirked.

"I figured you'd try something like this, and I told my superiors that making an enemy of you all well...that's not exactly something any of us want. Especially since you all were able to stop Apocalypse while all we did was just irritate him."

"So what are you here for then?" Logan growled out at him.

"I wanted to talk to her." Everyone had been so focused on Fury and Logan that they didn't notice a tall blonde woman with shoulder length hair step out of the helicopter and approached them. She was Dr. Deborah Risman, the woman responsible for the X23 project of Hydra.

"What the Hell do YOU have to say to her?" Logan said nearly snarling at the woman who had brought Sarah into this world but also had watched as they did horrible things to her as well.

"It's personal Logan." She replied a little intimidated by his reactions.

"I think the three of us need to have a talk." Fury said then looking at the others. "In private."

"What if I say no?" Logan said to him sternly.

"Then we got a problem, since then you'd have to deal with my own team." Fury said with a hint of a smile at his ace in the hole.

"What team?"

"Us." Replied a familiar voice and they all turned to see eight others coming out of the helicopter all wearing black uniforms with the SHIELD logo but with an X on the bottom of it. She had long black hair, white skin with a black circle over one of her eyes and was someone most of the students had met once.

"Domino!?!" Logan said completely surprised to see the young woman again. The last time they had seen her was after they dropped her off after they had rescued her, a Japanese boy and a few of their own from Trask and his new Sentinel testing facility.

"Long time no see there hairy." She said to Logan smiling at him.

"What are you doing here?" Logan asked completely shocked to see her.

She smiled at his reaction. "Well let me brake it down for you. After you guys dropped me off I got a offer to lead a Government sanctioned team under SHIELD. Well one-eye here got me interested, so since I had nothing else going for me I said 'yes' and here I am leading X-Force."

"X-Force?" Logan asked.

Fury shrugged. "Some idiot wanted to name it X-Factor for some reason but I shot the idea down. This is a military team not some kind of sports team or something."

Domino looked to Logan. "Now I know you guys out number us, and I really don't want to fight you guys, especially since I still own you guys, but this should just take ten minutes of your time. Besides if we get into a fight...well...then there's the injuries, and the damage to this place, and most likely someone will call the cops and then this place will become a three ring circus after the media get called in...so...do you really want that or will you just hear them out?"

Logan thought about it but Xavier stepped in. "I think we will discuss this all. Please come inside and we can all talk in my office."

Fury nodded. "Fine with me." He turned to Domino. "Why not let the teams mingle at bit."

She smiled at his suggestion. "Great I can look up an old friend."

Fury, Dr. Risman, and Logan walked to the front door and followed Xavier to his office. Sarah who had been watching it all was feeling a lot of things over all of this. There was the terror of being taken away from the only place that was a home to her, to the anger at seeing Risman again. She also felt something else. When the others had stood up for her she felt something. She wasn't sure what but she felt a warm sensation at seeing them willing to fight for her and to protect her.

She put the thoughts aside as she would think on that later. She wanted to know what was going on so she would wait for them to enter Xavier's office and she would get close for her enhanced hearing to pick up what was being said.

Outside Domino had her team line-up and began introductions. "Well I better get this out of the way first." She said with a smirk. She pointed to a sixteen-year-old boy with a slightly long face, brown hair and a smile that seemed to be plastered on his face. "This is Kevin Sidney."

He nodded to them. "Please call me Morph, and if you're wonder what I can do, well then." He then changed into the Fonz from Happy Days. "Eh." He said giving two thumbs up. "Let's just say I can do impressions."

Domino rolled her eyes. "In other words he's a shape shifter." Then she pointed to a sixteen-year-old girl with a mane of green hair. "This is Lorna Dane."

She took a step forward to them all. "I'm also called Polaris and I got magnetic powers and before you ask." She cut in at the last moment seeing them tense slightly at her powers. "I don't got any relation to Magneto...I think."

"You think?" Wanda said looking at her intently.

"Well...I...uh...never knew who my real dad is, and my mom said he had disappeared not long after I was born, and she never saw him again." She admitted being a little intimidated by the older girl.

Wanda stepped right up to her, looking at her with narrowed eyes trying to see any family resemblance, then she turned to Hank. "I want a blood test." She said angrily.

"What?!" Polaris said shocked.

"I want to make sure." Wanda said glaring at her. Polaris wasn't sure why she was so angry with her but there was just something intimidating about her.

"I say go for it." Domino said with a smirk, Polaris whirled to face her with a response but Domino cut her off. "Look on the bright side. If it's positive then not only would you know who you're father is, but then you'd get a sister out of the deal."

At that Polaris just stood there frozen with her mouth hanging open as the thought hit her. Sure she had wanted to know who her father was, but knowing it was a mutant terrorist wasn't exactly appealing but she was also getting a big sister out of it too. She looked at Wanda and felt it was kind of bitter sweat. "Um...uh...okay...I...I guess we could do that."

"Well wait until the introductions are over first." Domino said. Both girls nodded but Polaris seemed lost in thought about what the test could prove.

"Well next up is M here." She pointed to a very attractive seventeen year old with long black hair and a lightly dark skin, who definitely looked like she could be a model one day.

She stepped up. "My name is Monet Yvette Clarisse Maria Therese St. Croix, or just Monet." She said in a cultured voice that reminded the X-Men of a little of Amara for some reason, especially the way she carried herself. "My powers are superhuman strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, invulnerability and intelligence, night vision, hearing, healing factor, telepathy, and finally flight."

Roberto whistled at the list. "Damn, she's got all that and great looks too." He said to himself while staring at the lovely young woman. Monet smiled at the comment and noticed him staring and winked a little. She thought she should give him a little thrill for recognizing her abilities.

Bobby nudged Vincent in the ribs with his elbows. "Guess you aren't the most diversely powered mutant anymore buddy."

He was scratching the back of his head. "No kidding, she's got me beat in that department."

Next up was a heavily armed seventeen-year-old guy with a long red hair in a ponytail and a red star tattoo over his left eye. His name was Benjamin Russel or Shatterstar. He had superhuman strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, and senses, personal regeneration, convert sonic frequencies into a vibratory shockwave that he channels through his swords, daggers, shurikens and throwing blades that he had equipped all over his person.

Next was a Theresa Rourke Cassidy or Syrin who was a tall, sixteen-year-old, redhead with an Irish accent. Her uniform had these 'wing' like things on them and she could have this 'scream' that could be used as a weapon or allow her to fly. As soon as she stepped forward Rahne had ran over to her.

"Teresa! It's good tae see you again!" She said excitedly and hugged her. Theresa was just as thrilled and hugged her back.

"Uh...Rahne a little help here?" Jubilee asked her.

Rahne turned them all. "This is Theresa, she and I met while I was sent back home. Her father and me mum are close and while he was livin' there we were together and became good friends."

"I'll say." Teresa said smiling. "It's so good to see you again."

Next was a very large boy of seventeen with a little piece of pure white hair on his almost bold head and goggles on. He was Guido Carosella or Strong Guy for obvious reasons as he had superhuman strength that he could temporarily increase.

Lastly was an eighteen-year-old boy with short dark hair, sunglasses, tall, handsome and was in very good shape, on his black uniform there was a giant red W on it. He stepped forward and smiled a million dollar smile at them. "Hi I'm Simon Williams or Wonder Man. As for powers, well basically I got superhuman strength, durability and stamina."

"Hey I know you!" Tabitha said pointing at him. "Weren't you that actor? You just seemed to disappear off the face of the Earth, and I was a fan of those days when you were a kid actor too."

Simon smiled. "Well I had to quit since...well...I'll show you." He took off his glasses and they saw his eyes were actually glowing. "I couldn't hide this so I stepped out of the lime light."

"We'll that's everyone then." Domino said "Why don't we all go inside for now?"

**NEW YORK – HELLFIRE CLUB**

In one of the sub levels of the Hellfire Club a group of teens were seated in chairs in a plain white room facing a stand and a projector scene. "So when is Frosty supposed to get here already?" A blond boy asked.

"How should we know?" Ask a girl with a French accent and long dark hair, who was playing with some tarot cards. "She's most likely just likes to have us wait."

The door to the side opened and Emma Frost in a white leather coat, hot pants and a T-shirt that covered little walked in. A large guy leaned over to the blond boy. "You got to admit ya got to love how she enters a room, too bad she doesn't dress a little more like Selene thought." He whispered.

"Careful, she IS a telepath and I don't think you'd want her OR Selene hear those kinds of thoughts. Emma would give you a nightmare for a week and as for Selene." The boy shuddered. "What she would do to you WOULD be a nightmare." The large boy gulped and nodded they all knew Selene's reputation.

Emma walked behind the podium and looked at the Hellfire Club's most elite students. There was Christopher Aaronson or King Bedlam a bald African American of nineteen with a goatee and the second in command, he had the power to mix the signals in a person's brain causing all kind of chaos. Next to him was a Sharon Smith or Catseye, who like Rahne of Xavier's could transforms into a cat or cat like forms. She was fifteen and the most noticeable features here her purple hair, cat eyes and a cat like tail too.

There was also a Spanish boy named Manuel who was sixteen and she felt he could be very promising. He went by Empath because of his Empathic powers. Next to him was a French girl with long dark hair called Marie-Ange Colbert. She was seventeen and went by the name Tarot because of her ability to make her tarot cards come alive.

There was a huge boy only known as Beef. He was eighteen and was massive for his size. He also wasn't that bright and liked to pick on others. Close by was yet another French girl in a skimpy shirt and shirt. She was blond and eighteen. Her name was Jennifer but she also went by Roulette because of her energy disks that could make a person have good or bad luck. She was also in Emma's opinion a big flirt.

Lastly there was the other blond French boy named only Bevatron. He seventeen and had powers similar to Ray of the Xavier's and was always eager for a fight.

She looked over them all as the elite and the best there were. "Now." She said to them all. "As Selene is getting our new home ready I'm going to go over the X-Men and New Mutant members that you will meet. We will go through whatever background we have on them, their powers and especially their weaknesses. We're going to make our presence known soon to them, and we will show them what evolution truly is."

The others grinned at those words. They considered themselves the best in the world and they wanted to prove it.

"Now then let's get started." Emma said and flipped a few controls in the podium in front of her. The lights dimmed and a projector at the back came alive and an image of the Xavier Institute was one screen. Emma then starter to brief them all on the X-Men and who they would go up against.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 22: GETTING TO KNOW X-FORCE**

**Okay before I get a lot of the same questions, here are a few answers. First off if you're wondering why Jetstream wasn't included in the Hellions it's because I think he's too lame to be in it. He's basically a weaker rip-off of Sam plus I really don't see him useful in a fight. So I replaced him with King Bedlam.**

**Thunderbird/Firestar isn't in it, because I hate using villains who aren't really bad and who later become heroes. (Yeah I know about Emma Frost but she's one of those characters that are good wither way you write them)**

**Empath will be toned down a little or else I would have to start writing the fics I had with that guy in the R section for the stuff I could do with him.**

**And to those that caught on, yes I know I introduced Annie earlier to Alex and that Polaris is here too. I figured I would add a nice little thing with those two competing for his affection. Also I though about dragging out the revealing of Polaris' father, but I can't honestly think Wanda as the patient type, plus I had a few good idea I wanted to use now then later.**


	22. Getting to know XForce

Ldypebsaby: You'll see what they want to talk about, glad you liked that thing with Morph and Polaris and Wanda ARE related she really IS Magneto's daughter in the comics. And before the end there will be a showdown I'm building up to it so be patient.

Xmenfan: Actually I'm going for a Annie/Alex/Polaris thing, since Annie does live in Bayville and Polaris doesn't (she's X-Force remember) but things will change now and then. I got this huge arc that might take months if not a year to tell about those three. Don't worry Wanda will be with the team when they go up against the Hellions and remember that Rogue IS the only other girl Wanda's age and she's still trying to fit in. Don't worry I had an idea about some of the students 'evolving' a little, but that won't be for awhile.

LadyDeathStrike1: I figured Sarah and her training would come in handy at times. As for the Doctor, you bet she won't like it, and believe me it's a major shocker.

Sparky Genocide: All the Hellions are canon characters that actually were Hellions. Where do you think Red Witch got the ideas for those characters? Anyways

Ruby631: Hope you like the Annie/Alex/Polaris thing I got going.

The Uncanny R-Man: Basically King Bedlam can screw with your mind making you incoherent. As for Empath/Amara sort of, since she only loved him because of his powers were affecting her he'll make her 'fall' for him when he's close but she won't like him. In fact I'm bringing Shadow back soon and if you remember she has a crush on him so you know things will get interesting.

slickboy444: Yeah I needed someone to liven things up and Morph is perfect for that. The Hellions won't get involved until X-Force leaves at least, but they're coming up soon I just have to hammer out the idea for that chapter a bit.

Red Witch: I guess they do, glad you liked my X-Force idea, what do you think of the line-up? And I have no idea what's up with

celtcath74: No Hellfire doesn't know about Fury's team and as for Cable, I'm not sure how to work him into this, you know with the whole alternate future plus I haven't even made his mom Madelyn Prior yet either.

Thanks to: X00001

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 22: GETTING TO KNOW X-FORCE**

While the X-Force was getting to know the other, and Wanda went straight to the medical ward with Hank and Polaris to see if they were related Xavier and Logan were in his office with Dr. Deborah Risman and Fury. Xavier was behind his desk hoping that Logan wouldn't do anything to rash, he could feel the waves of anger at having the woman in that room. He was leaning against one of the walls with his arms crossed glaring at Risman while she and Fury took a pair of empty seats in front of his desk.

"What do you want?" Logan said sternly in an unfriendly manner.

Xavier sighed. 'So much for that thought.' He thought to himself.

Risman gulped and pushed back some of her shoulder length blond hair away as she looked at him but was still able to find her courage to face the angry Canadian. "I want to be able to see X23 while she's living here."

"WHAT? Why should I let you see her?" He yelled out. "Haven't you done enough to that girl?"

"I have a right to see her!" She said sternly.

"Give me one good reason!"

"Because...I'm her mother." She said and Xavier and Logan froze at that. Xavier raised both eyebrows while Logan stood there with his jaw hanging.

"What?" Logan said in a quiet and shocked voice.

"I'm her mother. We didn't have the ability to grown full grown clones in tanks when we started, most of the ones in the tanks died and those that did survive didn't last past the adamantium process." She began. "So we tried artificial insemination of your DNA, to try and ensure that the clone would live. I chose to use myself."

She drew a breath before going on, she had been younger back then and wanted to do anything to further her career in Hydra. She figured they might appreciate her devotion. "Anyways we used your DNA and spliced it with one of my eggs. Her DNA is mostly yours, but the ten percent difference is from me. You can check it if you want to, I'm sure Mr. McCoy could verify it."

"You're damn right I will have Hank do that!" Logan said enraged that this woman was claiming to be Sarah's 'mother'.

"Logan!" Xavier said sternly to try and force him back before things got anymore tense in the room.

Risman went on. "Why do you think I went straight to SHIELD when she left? Why do you think I was worried about her and wanted her back so much? I didn't mean to in the beginning but when she was growing inside of me I became attached to her. It broke my heart seeing her all the time yet I was told to stay away and follow the guidelines." She was becoming more emotional as she went on. "I didn't want to see her go through any of that but what choice did I have! They would have killed me and then who would look over her then?"

"Lady I thought Mystique was the most messed up mother out there but you really giver her a run for her money!" Logan shouted at her.

"I don't care about that! I did the best that I could!" She stood up to face him, her eyes slightly getting misty. "I just want to be able to see her."

Before Logan could say anything the door burst open and X23 was there looking pissed. She had been leaning against the door hearing everything, she had been just as shocked as the others when she heard what Risman had said about her being her mother. But the shock soon gave way to anger and she couldn't take it anymore, so she barged into the room.

"X23." Risman gasped seeing her after she had jumped from the sound of the door being forced open.

"My name is _Sarah_!" The young clone said angrily at her. "Sarah Logan! Learn it!" The anger and pain in her face was evident to everyone in the room. "I don't believe you! I may not know much about the world or about family, but I DO know that parents just sit back and watch as their kid gets tortured their entire lives!"

"Please listen to me." Risman pleaded.

"NO!" Sarah shouted. "If you WERE my mother then I would tell you to GO TO HELL! You're NOT my mother I won't believe it! Just stay away from me!" Sarah shouted tears starting to fall and she quickly turned and ran out the door.

Deborah reached out to her as Sarah ran off but stopped. Her heart ached at the scene, she knew this wasn't going to be easy and she couldn't blame her for her reactions. She knew she wasn't a mother to her, that she hadn't been able to love her like she wanted to. She sank down in her chair covering her face. She didn't want to others to see her state.

"Well...that actually went slightly better then I thought." Fury muttered as Logan went to see on his daughter.

**MEANWHILE **

Domino had an arm around Clarice as they walked on through the mansion. "So how are things been going for you kid?" Domino couldn't believe the sight of Blink when she saw her. The last time she seemed so timid and stuck in her shell after her ordeal, but now stood a more energetic and outgoing girl in a t-shit and skirt.

Blink smiled up, glad to see her friend from Trask's cell again. It had been too long in her opinion that she last saw her. "It's going great. Miss Ororo is my legal guardian here and she's great. I get to help her out with the cooking and with the plants, which I especially love to do. I even got my own little garden and everything. Plus I got a LOT of new friends, more then I had before I changed."

Domino was happy that the young girl had found a happy place to live. After everything she had gone through it felt right to her that Blink should be happy.

"FOR THE LAST TIME NO! YOU CAN'T WATCH ME AND MY GIRLFRIEND MAKE OUT!" Came a shouting voice. Domino knew it was one of the girls here and her and Blink shared a confused look.

"Please! Come on I've never seen actual lesbians make out before." Came a whinny-pleading voice that Domino knew who it was.

Domino pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Now what has Morph gotten himself into?" She muttered. She noticed Blink's shocked expression so Domino decided to give her a little more information. "The guy is CONSTANTLY hitting on all the girls, even M's younger twin sisters."

"Twin sisters?" Blink asked.

"Oh yeah, you see X-Force has a reserve unit too, kind of like the New Mutants here. They're either replacements or support members for X-Force." Domino explained. "But what was that about a girlfriend?"

"Oh you see we got a new girl from Canada named Gale, she's the one with the blue hair and we also found out she's gay and is dating a girl we know. Actually I was the first to know about it but I was shocked when she kissed Amy during our sleep over but I _was_ surprised when Amy kissed back."

Domino shook her head. "You have GOT to tell me about that."

Meanwhile Wanda was waiting in the kitchen alone. She was holding a small piece of cloth on her arm where the blood was taken for the test she just wanted it over with, and she really wanted it to be negative too.

"Mind if I sit down?" She turned to see Wonder Man gesturing to the seat near her. Wanda just shrugged and he sat down. "So...why exactly are you so hostile to Lorna? I thought you'd like the opportunity to have a little sister in your life?"

She turned to glare at him but he only smiled back at her, which just annoyed her. "Look, I don't _want_ another member of my family, I already got a good-for-nothing father with delusions of grandeur and a backstabbing annoying twin brother I don't _need_ a little sister wannabe Magneto."

"Well first off, back off on Lorna she's my teammate and friend not to mention a nice person. Secondly what's _really_ bothering you about this and don't BS me, I used to live in Hollywood and have been around it long enough to smell it coming." He said sternly.

"Why do you care?" She asked sharply.

He shrugged. "Don't know. Call it my good nature or the fact I don't like to see a pretty lady upset."

Wanda raised an eyebrow at being called a 'pretty lady', she wasn't sure to feel complimented or annoyed. "You use that line one a lot of girls?"

He smirked at her and shrugged again. "Well to be honest yeah...but just between you and me...this is one of those moments I actually mean it...and stop avoiding the question."

Wanda sighed. "You won't go away until I tell you will you?" He shook his head his smile still there. She was tempted to see if he wanted to still try if she hex bolted him, but she stopped herself. 'Why does he seem to care?' she wondered, she also knew she might as well get this over with, if she told him maybe he'd leave her alone.

"Fine you want to know what's bothering me. I've done the math, if Magneto IS her father then he would have left me and Pietro shortly after we were born just to start a new family else ware, he just dropped us for her. And then what about my mom? Does that mean he was cheating on her too?"

Simon rubbed his chin and thought about it. "I can see why you're angry now but you're forgetting a few things. First off he LEFT Lorna just like he did you. And at least you knew who your father was, he left before she was born, and Magneto DID come back for you two and didn't come back for her...he might not actually knows about her anyway."

Wanda thought about it for a minute. Simon placed a hand on her's and she was surprised by the move. "Look I'm not asking to you to welcome into your life with open arms, but just consider it. If this proves that she IS your sister then think about that. You'd have at least one family member that you got a clean slate with. Just think about it." He said in a soft voice. Wanda wasn't sure why but she tried to think about it. If Lorna was her little sister then...she would be on good terms with at least ONE family member. And even if Pietro did leave her again, she did miss him.

"Can we...talk about something else please?" She said all the hardness of her voice was gone.

"Anything you want to talk about." Simon said to her flashing her a smile.

While Wanda was alone so Lorna was sitting on a chair in the living room watching her teammates get to know the X-Men and New Mutants. Theresa and Rahne were inseparable as were Domino and Blink. A few of the others were mingling too. She saw Strong Guy trying to get Piotr into an arm wrestling contest to see who was stronger, and she saw Shatterstar talking to a native girl Dani.

"You okay?" said a voice. She looked and found her breath being taken from her. In front of her was a gorgeous blond boy her own age with a deep tan and incredible blue eyes.

"Uh...y-yeah I guess." She could feel herself blush and mentally smacked herself in the head. 'Oh yeah nice way to start things off.' She thought.

But thankfully he smiled. "Well that's good. I'm Alex by the way, Alex Summers and you're Lorna right?"

She nodded "Yeah I am. Wait Summers, as in Scott Summers?"

"Oh yeah he's my big brother. In fact we didn't know each other had survived the plane crash until last year."

She smiled a little. "So you found you're lost long brother and I may just do the same with a half-sister."

Alex sat down next to her in a chair to her left. "Yeah I guess that's going to be interesting."

"To say the least." She muttered. She still wasn't sure if she wanted to know if Wanda was her sister or not. Wanda wasn't exactly friendly to her, in fact while they had been getting the blood drawn she didn't speak or even looked at her.

Alex saw how she seemed to be lost in thought and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey you alright?"

She shrugged. "Honestly? I don't know yet."

**IN THE GYM**

Sarah had needed a way to let off all the anger she was feeling, the gym was closer them the Danger Room, plus she had been told not to use it without supervision so here she was taking all her frustration out on a punching bag. She was punching and kicking with all her force not caring about padding since her knuckles would heal up soon after any skin was broken so she just let it all out.

She didn't know how long she was doing this, but she had worked up a deep sweat and was breathing hard. She found her blows being less powerful and was starting to feel tired.

"Ya goin' ta ware that out if ya keep it up." Sarah turned panting to face Rogue who had walked in on her.

"What do you want?" Sarah snapped.

Rogue wasn't phased by her anger. "I saw Logan looking for ya and ah asked him what was up? Ah figured ah should try to talk to ya first."

"Why?"

Rogue moved to a bench nearby and sat down. "Because ah know what you are goin' through. Remember Mystique my own 'mother'?" Sarah had heard of her and had read a file Hydra had on the shape shifter too. She knew that Mystique wasn't a nice lady to say the least. "Well then ah know how it feel sto find out that you mother isn't exactly the kind of person you dreamed of."

"I never thought I had a mother period." She said and highlighted the last statement witn one more punch to the punching bag.

"Same here. Ah know what's it's like to beh used, manipulated, lied to, only to have someone tell ya, that they're your mothah."

Sarah was quiet for a minute before she responded. "How can she be my mother? How could she _let_ them do that to me?"

Rogue sighed. "Ah don't know, you'd have to ask her that."

Sarah thought about it but she was too angry to face the woman. "Maybe one day I will...but not now...I...I just can't face that woman just yet."

Rogue nodded and got up to leave. "You going to be alright?"

Sarah began to attack the bag again. "I don't know...but tell Logan and the others I just want some time alone...and Rouge...thanks."

Rogue smiled in sympathy for the girl and nodded. She knew that this wasn't going to be easy for her to come to terms with. Hell even she was still coming to terms with Mystique, so Rogue left Sarah alone and went to tell Logan to give her some space for a while.

**LATER**

Hours later Hank had called everyone together to make the announcement of the blood tests. When they went to gather Polaris and Wanda they found Polaris laughing and talking with Alex having a good time and what shocked a few of the others was when they found Wanda.

Wanda was talking to Simon and she actually looked like she was having a nice time. She was even smiling a little.

After a few minutes everyone was on edge waiting to know the results especially Wanda and Polaris. Dr. Risman wasn't in the room she was sitting alone in another part of the mansion wanting to be left alone while she 'composed' herself.

"Well what's the verdict?" Domino asked him as Hank came in with some papers with the test results under his arm.

He looked at the notes then began. "Well normally it would have taken a lot longer but Forge has helped me update the labs with a few new and improved equipment so I was able to gain the results more quickly."

"Stop stalling already!" Wanda snapped, the waiting had been getting to her. Thankfully she did have Simon to thank for distracting her while she waited.

"Yes well, the tests say that Lorna and Wanda _are_ sisters." Hank revealed. The room was dead silence as everyone was either looking at Wanda or Lorna for their reactions. Both girls looked shocked to everyone at it the news.

"I think we should all leave the girls alone." Xavier said to everyone, and there were no disagreements. Everyone knew that those two had a few things to talk about. After everyone had left both girls looked at each other.

"Well." Wanda began.

"Yeah." Lorna said. There was an awkward silence between the girls both of them had no clue as to what was going to happen next. "Oh god!"

"What?" Wanda asked surprised by Lorna's sudden outburst.

"I just realized...I got to call my mom about this. I mean how do I explain that I got an older sister?"

Wanda smirked. "Technically you got an older brother too, remember I'm a twin."

Polaris cringed. She had read the SHIELD file on her and knew about Pietro. "I think I might skip that part for now, one heart attack at a time you know?" Wanda smiled at that, she could relate to that a bit.

After the girls had finished it was time for X-Force to get back to headquarters. Before they left a few had to say goodbye. With Fury's permission, Domino gave Blink a contact number so they could keep in touch. Roberto, who had spent the majority of his time with M whispered something to her and those that looked could see her blush a little yet smiled. She grinned at him and as she whispered something back no one noticed a card she slipped to him.

Wanda and Polaris had agreed to keep in touch, they wanted to try and explore a little this new sister relationship they found out they now had. Polaris on her way to the helicopter stopped and walked over to Alex. "Um...I know we just met and all...but." She couldn't hide the blush she had and tried to hide her face behind her long curly green hair. "But do you think that...well...the next time in town we could...you know...go out?" She asked hopefully.

Alex smiled at her. "Sure I'd like that."

"Really! That's great, well I'll call you when I'm in town then."

Alex smiled to himself as she walked away happily but he suddenly felt a dark presence behind him and turned to see Wanda. She looked at him sternly. "Now I may not know much about her, and she and I may not be close but she IS my little sister and if you hurt I suggest you run fast, and run far." Alex gulped and watched the older girl walk off.

Dr. Risman looked for Sarah in the crowd hoping to try one last time with her, but she was no where in sight. With a heavy heart the ex-Hydra doctor walked back to the helicopter but when she saw Logan she went up to him. "Look after her please." She said sadly to him, he nodded his head. 'At least she has people here that care for her.' She thought to herself as she went back to the helicopter.

Fury was one of the last to leave. He had gotten a file from the helicopter and walked right up to Vincent. "Look kid I know all about you too. I know about Project Prodigy and that you were Prodigy seven out of the group of twelve kids."

"How do you know about _that_?" The young Canadian asked defensively. So far mostly everyone he had met associated his past with the exception of April, hadn't been a good experience.

"Because it was SHEILD that attacked that lab kid." Fury said enjoying the shock on the boy's face. "How do you think we knew about mutants in the first place? Anyways this is a copy of a file I think you should have. There's not much in there since it's classified but there enough. You see kid, we got more mutants then X-Force here. We got three other kids that couldn't make this trip. You know them as Prodigy 8, 9 and 11." Fury didn't know it was possible but the look of surprise on Vincent's face was even more now then before.

Fury then handing him the file. "I told them about you and they want to meet you. Take a look through it since it has a contact number for them." Vincent took the file quietly in complete shock at what he was holding.

"T-thanks." He said quietly, Fury smiled and nodded and walked off as Vincent quietly walked back to his room to read up on the last of the survivors of Project Prodigy. For the first time since April was in his life, he felt an empty part of him that was no long empty.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 23: PARTY CRASHERS**

The other try to celebrate Vince's birthday but the Hellions chose that day to 'introduce them selves.' And if you're wondering about why I chose to make Risman Sarah's mother it because one of the producer that created X23 based the looks of X23 and Dr. Risman after his actual wife and daughter so I decided to play on it, that and I wanted to shock the readers too.


	23. Party Crashers

Ldypebsaby: Well what better way for the Hellions to make an impact? As for Rogue you'll see.

TheLegendaryManHimself: Well Lorna and Wanda are really sisters in the comics, as for Wonder Man, yes he's a real Marvel character he's an Avenger like Wanda is in the comics who in the comics had a relationship with. As for the parent thing, yeah I know what you mean.

Commy: No problem I know how things get at times. As for Riseman/X23 I wanted a giant bombshell that no one has done before and when I found out about who the characters were modeled after, well it was too good to pass up. The reunion will be a separate fic called Prodigy Reunion. And Pietro and the others will have the last few chapter to themselves and an appearance by Crystal too.

Xmenfan: Okay first of the evolving thing will be awhile don't rush me on it I want to get it right. Keep in mind I have to balance the stories between over 30 characters and that's not easy. But I am going with the Annie/Alex/Lorna triangle for awhile to make things interesting, and don't forget that in the comics Lorna had changed so much after Alex had woken up she was no longer the woman that Alex fell in love with, they were just too different now, did you really want them in a marriage where Alex felt compelled to marry her instead of doing it for love? But there is some serious butt kicking in this chapter for ya.

Aaron: They're not exactly siblings, but you will see the other three in a one chapter story soon.

X00001: Thanks, is there a top 10 list? And what can I say I wanted one hell of a surprise for the readers.

Sparky Genocide: Yeah there was something between Wanda and him in the comics too. When Pietro finds out it will be a shock.

The Uncanny R-Man: Yeah well no one seemed to see it coming either so don't feel too left out. As for Sarah, well she'll just need time to some to terms with it all.

slickboy444: Thanks for the support and I'm glad you liked Sarah's reactions, I wasn't sure if it was good enough but I guess it was.

Red Witch: You're kidding? Man that is weird. But you got to admit in the show there did seem to be something with the doc, plus they do kind of look alike too. (Take into around they're based off of a real mother & daughter they should look kind of alike)

Thanks to: fire inu, Ruby631, LadyDeathStrike1, Proponent of EVO, celtcath74, DemonRogue13

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 23: PARTY CRASHERS**

The mansion was a little more filled with excitement then normal but then again a lot of the students were looking forward to throwing a party, of course it was supposed to be a surprised party for Vince's eighteenth birthday and they were trying to keep him from finding out about it. So far they were using the music room since it was large enough and wasn't used often.

Everyone felt they needed a release from all the tension over the last few months so they also saw this as a way to unwind as well as celebrate a special day for someone among them.

A few of the students that weren't setting up were given the assignment of keeping him away from the room. Which wasn't proving too difficult since he had been preoccupied ever since Fury had given him that file about the last of the Prodigy survivors.

So now the group that were supposed to keep him busy were gathered in Rogue's room. There was Kitty, Piotr, Rogue of course and Kurt. "Well this easier then I thought it would be." Piotr said. He was sitting on the floor snuggling next to Kitty who wasn't minding it at all.

"Like tell me about it, but why am I on this duty?" Kitty asked. "I mean I wanted to cook along with Ororo, Blink, Paige and Amanda?" That group was made up of the those with cooking experience and had started last night and were doing the finishing touches this morning with the frosting and other things.

"Kitty we don't want him or anyone else gets food poisonin'." Rogue said rolling her eyes.

Kitty pouted her face slightly angry. "My cooking is NOT that bad." She said defensively.

"Kitty remember what happened ta Lockheed tha last time he ate one of your brownies?" Rogue asked her. Lockheed had gotten sick all day and the little guy didn't go anywhere near the kitchen for a week after that. "Ah mean that guy will eat anythin' that ain't nailed down or set on fire. And tha fire part is optional at times too."

Meanwhile Tabitha and Amara were going to the others gathering the gifts that each student had hidden somewhere and putting them in the music room. They were on their way to Jean's room now. Amara was about to knock but Tabitha just turned the knob and walked in. "Hey red you in?" Tabitha asked.

Jean nearly jumped in surprise she was fixing her hair for the party by combing it when Tabitha had stormed in. "Tabitha you should knock first."

Tabitha just shrugged. "Sorry I'm not used to it." Amara behind her gave her a sympathetic look. "Besides it's not like you and scooter got at it during the morning...do you?"

Jean was really regretting letting that secret out, as she could see the blush in the mirror. "T-that's none of your concern what me and Scott do is _private_."

"Alright, keep calm. Anyway where's your gift?"

"In a box in the closet." Jean told her. Amara was closer so she went to the closet and looked through it, she saw two boxes in the corner and pulled out one of them and opened it.

What she saw made her raise her eyebrows. "Uh...Jean...I don't think these would uh fit him." Both Jean and Tabitha turned around with confused looks on their faces then when Jean saw which box she had pulled out she gasped and turned bright red.

Tabitha grabbed the box and smirked as she pulled out a very revealing schoolgirl's uniform. She looked at Jean. "Well who knew? Looks like they like to play a little." Jean grabbed the box from her with her powers her face as red as her hair. Tabitha turned to look at the closet. "What else you got in there? Any handcuffs, studded leather or whips?"

"Tabitha!" Both Amara and Jean shouted.

"Look me and Scott just like to make things...well...interesting from time to time." Jean admitted. "And NO there aren't anything what you just described we're NOT a pair of kinky sex freaks or anything."

"This from the girl who sometimes like to dress up." Muttered Amara from under her breath.

"Man I suddenly got a whole new respect for ya red, I mean it's really cool that you two can let lose from time to time, I feel like I should be taking notes from you already." She said smiling. Jean however was both dying from embarrassment and fuming. She marched to the closet and pulled out another box and handed it to Amara.

"_This_ is the gift." Jean told them. Amara nodded and decided she had learned enough about Jean's sex life for the rest of the day and got out of there.

Tabitha went with her but stopped at the door. She looked out side checking the halls for a bit then rushed back to Jean. I uh...borrow that for a little? I want to give Sam a thrill."

"Tabitha! You and Sam are still sixteen!" Jean said shocked.

"It's not for sex!" She said but in her mind she said 'yet' but tried not to project that. "I just want to give him a little eye candy." She said grinning. "Besides if you do I won't tell a soul about this."

Jean thought about it, she knew Tabitha wouldn't hesitate to blab this is she could. She sighed and handed her the box. "But clean it after words."

Tabitha grinned and took it under her arm. "Thanks!" And she ran out the door to put it somewhere in her room while Jean just slumped down in her chair hoping this didn't get out or she and Scott wouldn't hear the end of it.

While everyone was getting things ready Vince had been meditating since it helped him to think at times and he had a lot on his mind at the moment. After he got out of his meditation, unfortunately with no answers, which vexed him a little he looked at the folder yet again. He had been thinking on what to do with the information he got about the last three members.

He decided to do some training but he felt the need for solitude so he decided to stay in his room. He figured Piotr was out with Kitty or something since he hadn't really been back in their room all day so he decided to do some katras in this room or something for something to focus on he needed to get his mind off of it.

**LATER THAT DAY**

Everything was ready and now it was time to get the birthday boy. Vince was staying in his room a lot deep in thought but the few times he did come out they had to make sure he didn't go near the kitchen or bump into someone. Kitty had to cut him off in the hall once when he nearly saw Jamie and Roberto in the hall carrying their gifts, at lunch he wanted to get something to eat and Kurt had took him out for lunch saying he just wanted to be nice.

Vince was sure they were up to something, but with everything going on he was a little too busy to think about it. It was when Rogue came to get him that he knew things were up when she asked him to follow her, when he asked what for she was evasive and said they had to hurry. He wasn't sure what was going on or why she was leading him to the music room, or why the mansion felt so quiet. When she opened the doors and everyone there yelled out surprised he felt so stupid at that moment for not seeing it.

"What did you do forget it was your own birthday?" Bobby said seeing the surprised look on his face. "You sure you got a photographic memory?"

He just shrugged. "Well I've had a lot on my mind." He said slightly laughing. He looked around there was a long table with a multi layered cake since there were so many people and the place was decorated and there even was a giant 18 make of ice, most likely formed by Bobby.

Sarah watched Vince and everyone uncertain what exactly was going on. She had asked what a birthday was to Logan and a few of the others. When they told her it was a celebration of a person's birth she was beginning to wonder what kind of celebration. She looked around her as people seemed happy and they were laughing and talking.

"Something wrong kid?" Logan asked walking up next to her.

She shrugged. "I've never been to a party before let alone a birthday one."

Logan smirked. "Well think of this as a preview since the file I read on ya says that your birthday is commin' up in a few months." Sarah looked at her 'father' and wasn't sure what she was feeling at that moment. She never had a birthday before and if this was what one was like...then she thought it might be interesting. Plus it was one more thing she knew she had been denied, and she wanted to reclaim much of what she had lost.

Things were turning out pretty good so far, after about fifteen minutes everyone who had gotten him a gift since he had told all the new guys not to give him anything since they just met, wanted to see who got him the best gift.

There were a few new shirts, mainly due to the fact for some reason ever since he had gotten there he had ruined several pairs already and buying replacement was starting to eat up his savings. Jamie had gotten him the Shogun DVD which he couldn't wait to show it during the next movie night they had, although since it was a mini-series he had to plan for it be a little earlier then normal.

Kurt had gotten him the first season of Samurai Jack DVD, and he was moving on to opening one from Ray when the center of the room was engulfed in a giant fire. Everyone scrambled away then the flames retreated and a woman with long dark hair and in black leather that was something that a dominatrix would wear with a dark cape stood before them.

"Well hello there, for those of you that don't know me I'm Selene. The Black Queen and in charge of the Hellions." She stated to them.

Xavier wheeled himself in front of her. "What do you want here?" He said with a trace of anger in his voice, which was a rare thing to ever hear from him.

"Easy. My own students are the elite of this world, the best of the best and we want to prove them against your X-Men." She said with an evil grin on her face. She coldly walked right in front of him and then placed a foot on his chair right between his legs and she bent down to glare at him. "And they _will_ face my Hellions."

She then kicked out with her foot sending Xavier back and then outstretched her hands and before anyone could react Bobby, Jamie, Paige, Sam, Tabitha, Jubilee, Amara, Logan and Sarah had flaming circles around their bodies like restraints but didn't seem to burn.

Then with a wicked laugh she waved her hands and in flames they were all gone. "Now if you want to see your friends again send you X-Men out to the gravel pit outside of Bayville." She smiled at them and then she too vanished in flames.

Everyone was talking at once trying to make sense of everything. Ororo was helping Charles back into his chair since it had toppled not far after Selene had kicked it. "We have to go after them Charles." Ororo said filled with concern.

"Yes we do." He said sternly. "Everyone quiet and calm yourselves!" Xavier said over the noise. "I want the X-Men suited up and ready to go as fast as possible. Wanda, Piotr I want the both of you to go as well."

"You want us to go?" Wanda questioned. "I thought you said we needed more training?"

"I believe I'll make an exception for this circumstance." Xavier said grimly. "Besides I hope to surprise her a little with you two."

"What about the rest of us?" Blink asked him.

"While Ororo goes with the team I want everyone else to stay here in case this is a trick to make us either leave not enough people behind to defend the mansion or no one left here at all and there are certain things I don't want to fall into the wrong hands."

"Alright, everyone going to meet the Hellions we better get moving." Scott said going into leader mode.

**GRAVEL PIT OUTSIDE OF BAYVILLE**

The Hellions were waiting for the arrival of the X-Men in their uniforms, which were all red with boots and gloves. Selene was sitting on the throne watching her captives now held just above the air with mystic rings around their wrists and ankles unable to move. And Emma Frost in a pure white battle outfit that was leather jeans, boots, gloves, a duster and a top on that wasn't the least bit modest.

"Well it shouldn't be long now." Selene said then walked over to Amara and grinned. "Well hello again. You know I've thought of nothing but how many ways to end your life in the most painful and torturous methods that I could come up with. And I can't wait to start."

Amara just sent pale and silently gulped. She knew better then anyone else what she was capable of and her mind was filled with all the horror stories from her childhood that she had heard of Selene and what she could and had done to her people.

Empath however had other ideas. He walked to Amara and looked her up and down. "My, my aren't you a pretty one." He traced a finger along her face and learned at her. "Say Selene before you ruin her goods looks permanently how about I get to have a little fun with her?"

"Don't you touch her you creep!" Tabitha snarled at him, along with a few other threats from her friends.

Empath just grinned at them. "Why I won't do anything that she doesn't want me to." He said and grinned she looked at her and his eyes glowed slightly. "How about a kiss huh?"

"Kid I'm going to neuter you personally if you touch her again." Logan growled out.

"So the barbarian speaks." Empath said amused. "And how will you get out of there?"

Amara's face changed from her frightened and revolted look to a softer one. "Yes." She said in a monotone voice. Empath was only too happy to obliged. The others looked on with sock. When he pulled away Amara shook her head and snapped out of Empath's powers. She found her courage and a snarl was on her face for what he just did.

"So how was that?" Empath asked. Amara responded by spitting in his face, which cause a few of the others to start laughing.

Selene backhanded Amara then. "Now that's not the way for a princess to act. You've been spending to much of your time with these common folk."

The other Hellions were watching with interests. Well all but one, Roulette had noticed that Tarot didn't look too pleased. "What's the matter huh?" She said grinning. "Wishing a certain blond mutant had his attention on you rather then the princess?" She teased.

"Shut it." Tarot snapped. This caused Roulette to grin even more.

"Hey we got company!" King Bedlam shouted and they all turned to see the X-Jet coming towards them and landed. When it finished out stepped, Storm, Cyclops, Jean, Rogue, Kitty, Mayhem, Nightcrawler, and finally Scarlet Witch and Colossus.

"Well looks like they added a few, no matter." Emma said. "I want the redhead the others are fair game to the rest of you." She commanded them.

Roulette looked at them and grinned. "Pity to spoil the looks of a couple of them, a few of them are really cute."

Storm looked at Selene with pure hatred seeing the others like they were. "Let them go now!"

Selene smiled. "As if." Storm flew up into the air and started to fire lightning blast at her, but she created some kind of mystic shield to deflect the blow.

Emma stepped up to Jean and looked her over. "Nice uniform." She said sarcastically. "Let's see how has the stronger mind shall we?" Then she launched a telepathic assault on Jean but she was holding her own.

Beef was currently grappling with Colossus, while Empath was fighting Kitty. Empath used his powers to make the her sudden afraid of him when he realized he was losing the fight since every blow he tried to land only ended up going through her and then she would counter attack and now she of them was fighting the urge to run away.

Mayhem was fighting Bevatron who was fighting Vincent with his fighting skills and loving it. Every punch was charged with static pulses that may not have injured Vince's tough body but they still hurt. However he soon found that the slightly older X-Man was more skilled as a fighter and soon found himself on his back.

He grinned and got up. "Now THIS is fun, you have any idea how hard it is to find a challenge?" He said grinning. Vince nodded then got into a fighting stance and gestured him to go on. Bevatron was more then happy to comply.

Kurt was doing his best against Catseye. She kept transforming into her cat and were-cat forms and her attacks were shift so he had to teleport from time to time to avoid getting the business ends of her claws. "You know...you kind of look like a giant blue mouse to me." She said grinning. Kurt didn't like the look in her eyes and the battle picked up after that.

Scott sent an optic blast to King Bedlam but he dodged it. Scott looked to Rogue who was nearby. "Rogue! Exit often under the sea and cheat!" He shouted which surprised him since that wasn't close to what he wanted to say. "Complete the race?" Rogue looked on in confusion as Tarot took this moment to take out her cards and suddenly Rogue found herself in a glass jar. She tried punching it but for some reason it didn't' break.

King Bedlam laughed. His powers not only shielded his mind from telepaths but he could also make other people say nothing but gibberish and mess with their perceptions. Now Scott's vision swam as the world seemed to twist and turn. He lost his balance and fell to the ground.

Wanda had had enough of this. She was battling Roulette as both of them sent their own probability altering energy attacks at each other but both kept dodging them. "Well I won't be upstaged by some _Goth_." Roulette spat at her.

"And I'm not going to let from French slut beat me!" Wanda said back and sent another Hex bolt. Roulette sent her own energy disk and both attacks collided with each other and seemed to merge. Then they started to pulsate and grow. "This can't be good." Wanda muttered then there was a huge explosion as the energies violently reacted with one another.

Everyone was thrown off their feet and as the dust settled everyone slowly got back up. The Hellions that had been using their powers had lost their concentration so now Kitty was no longer feeling fear, Rogue was out of the jar and Scott could think clearly again.

Selene however wasn't please as she got up and dusted herself off. "That was intolerable Roulette, be more careful with those!"

"You should listen to your own advice lady." Came a gruff and dangerous voice. She turned to see Logan standing behind her with the other captives. The explosion had knocked her control of the spell and they were all free. Normally Logan didn't like to hit woman but in this case he would make an exception and he clocked Selene with his hands and his adamantium laced bones made the hit that much harder on her face.

Selene got up and put a hand on her face and looking enraged that this man had the audacity to strike her. Then she now noticed that they were outnumbered, her Hellions were doing well against the X-Men but with the extra mutants now things odds were not in her side, in fact she saw several of the X-Men team up against her students. She knew the day was lost but she vowed to get back at this humiliation.

"You may have won the day barbarian." She snarled at him. "But we will win the war." She reached up into the sky and her and the Hellions vanished in flames.

"Lady I'm looking forward to that day." Logan muttered under his breath.

**AFTER THE BATTLE**

Vince was out back sitting on the ground. 'Well all things considered this birthday was anything but boring.' He brooded. The day had gone so well until those Hellions had called them out for a fight, and of course the X-Men had to go out to meet them, or no telling what those guys would have done. Not to mention a few of his friends had gotten hurt, luckily it wasn't too bad.

"Ya all right?" Vince smiled at the familiar voice.

"I guess...hey I've had worse days right?" He said trying to make light of the situation to Rogue. She however sat down next to him.

He saw the pissed look on her face. "Ah can't believe those guys decided to chose today of all days to make themselves known. Ah mean everyone worked hard ta make your first birthday here special and they ruined everything."

"Well...it was interesting I'll say that much." He told her grinning. She just smiled and shook her head, she just didn't understand how he tried to make others around him comfortable or feel better. Vince noticed something next to her. "Is that my present?"

Rogue got nervous. She had thought so hard about what to give him and was afraid he wouldn't like it. She bit her lower lip slightly and handed him the package after some of the other gifts he had got she wasn't sure it would measure up. "I-it's nothin' ah'm not sure you'll lahke it." She told him playing with one of her white bangs, a nervous habit she had for years.

Vincent smiled and opened the box. He was surprised at first seeing some kind of book with the word memories on it. He took it out and now Rogue was even more nervous thinking he didn't like it. Vince however opened it and was shocked to see it had photos in it, but the thing was they were from his time in Toronto.

The first page was of his first days at the orphanage and as he turned to the pages they were pictures of his entire life in Toronto. There were pictures of his past birthdays and holidays, times with his two best friends, special events in his life like a picture of him and his sensei when he won his first martial arts competition, all of the happiest times he could remember were in these pages. The last pages that still had photos were more recent and the last page with pictures had three specific ones. One was a shot of everyone in front of the mansion before he had arrived and then there was one of April and lastly one of Rogue. The rest of the book was blank.

"A-ah figured that you'd like something ta help ya remember all the good times in your life." She said nervously. "Ah got in contact with Father Michaels and with Mary, Benny and with your sensei, Mr. Kansuke. Since they couldn't beh here ah got them to send ya copies of all their favorite pictures of ya."

Vince looked at the inside cover of the photo album and there was something written there, he read it out loud. "To one of my favorite sons a Father could have, to the best friend a girl could know, to the best 'big brother' a boy could ask for, for the best student a teacher could have and...to the greatest love in my life." They were all sighed Father Michaels, Mary Jones, Benny Parker, Ryu Kansuke and finally Rogue under each of their handwritten words.

"They sent it here a week ago with somethin' each of them wrote down with the pictures they sent. Ah know it's silly and I shouldn't have gotten it ah'm sorry ah-"But she was cut off as he kissed her on the lips gently. She was surprised by this but soon sent it back to him.

He pulled back and with his right hand started to caress her cheek. "It's perfect, thank you." It truly did mean a lot to him. When he left his old home he didn't get anything much to remember his time there but this was something that helped fill that void in his life. And this wasn't just a gift form her, but from all the people that cared about him back home too.

Rogue smiled glad he liked it she leaned next to him resting her head on his shoulder. They sat there sitting next to each other for a little while, she felt him tilt his head. "Want to see if there's any cake left over?" He asked her.

She rolled her eyes but still smiled. "Sure."

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 24: VISITING**

Illyana comes back next chapter for a visit! See how she reacts to the fact that Piotr is now got a girlfriend and she won't be alone either.


	24. Visiting

Ldypebsaby: Actually you're the first to comment on the gift, I had the biggest trouble trying to think of something like that thanks for commenting on it.

Celtcath74: I'm not sure it will be in this story but she will one day and Illyana won't come alone to the Institute. Yeah I think Jean would win too but the battle didn't last long enough to go the distance.

Xmenfan: Damn you give me long reviews, lol. I'm not having the evolving thing in this story but in another. If I used all the great ideas in one story I wouldn't have anything to write about in the future. And yes the Hellions did underestimate them, but they got huge egos so that's why. I will show her on a date and with Xavier soon as well as the double date later on, maybe they get into a fight over which of their boyfriends is better. Wanda was in her old costume and I haven't brought in the black ones...yet. And thanks for the comparison to Claremont and Whendon.

Sparky Genocide: Yes the first of many fights. And yes Pietro wouldn't like that.

The Uncanny R-Man: Let's just say she met someone at Dr. Strange's place. Yeah I figure Selene was the type that loved to make an entrance, and I figured all that repression that those two have would have to come out in some fashion.

slickboy444: Glad you found the thing about Jean funny, I figured all that repression had to go somewhere. I'll do Sarah and anyone else that I can think of for a birthday too like Wanda, I doubt she has had one in a LONG time.

BlackRoseApocalyps: Well it's always nice to hear from you again, and I hope the homework lets up sometime in the future.

Winblades: Uh, no I don't got an editor it's just I don't trust people not to mess around with my work they check it. Selene is a Marvel character that is an Immortal sorceress, as for Illyana I'm not sure she'd go that far but she'd be pissed though, and thanks for finally reviewing too. Don't be afraid to check out the other stories too.

Thanks to: Red Witch, X00001, LadyDeathStrike1, DemonRogue13, Cammy

**Disclaimer: **The OC August belongs to the Uncanny R-Man, all other new characters belong to Marvel.

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 24: VISITING**

It had been quiet since Selene had attacked them and even though she hadn't shown up yet everyone was still a little tense, especially Amara. She had been a little jumpy all day after that and was in her room that she shared with Tabitha reading, or trying to. She was still on the same page she had started for the last fifteen minutes but her mind kept racing back to yesterday.

First getting kidnapped, then Selene's threats to her had given her nightmares last night. Then there was that blond boy Empath. He had used his powers on her and had made her 'feel' attracted to him. She knew that if he had his way that kiss would have just been the start and she had felt dirty after it.

She took six showers and used half a bottle of mouthwash before she felt clean again. She swore the next time she saw him she's throw a fireball at a certain part of his body so he would never enjoy the full pleasures of a girl in his entire life.

Tabitha came into the room then and Amara was thankful for the distraction. "Hey Mara, what'cha up to?"

She shrugged and put a marker in her book and then put in on the nightstand next to her bed. "Nothing much."

Tabitha regarded her closely. "Still bugging about yesterday?" She asked seriously.

Amara smiled. "Am I that transparent?" She sighed. "I know I shouldn't be so afraid of Selene, I mean after giant killer robots, a five thousand year old mutant wanted to change the world, and nearly getting blown up inside our own mansion you'd think an immortal evil sorceress wouldn't be a problem...but the thing is I grew up hearing all the awful tales of her rule and she's my country's version of the bogyman."

"So I guess it's like facing your worse fear huh?" Tabitha said sitting herself down on Amara's bed.

She nodded. "Yeah it is...you know I think I need some air." She got up to leave when Tabitha called over to her.

"Hey Mara, do me a favor? Send Sam up, I want his opinion on something okay?" Amara nodded her head and as she left Tabitha got a huge grin on her face.

Outside Kitty was sitting by a tree. She was being as still as possible since Piotr was drawing her. She had to admit she liked being his muse, sure it was tough on her body at times to keep a certain pose but she loved it too. It made her feel special and beautiful, especially when she saw the finished work. It somehow always seemed to enhance her looks without actually altering her physical appearance.

She was by the tree with her hair free of its ponytail, Piotr had asked her to let her hair more free and she was anxious to see the results. He couldn't help but smile when he started to draw her; he was so focus and when they locked eyes it was the only time he smiled. She was wondering if this was going to be something they always would do, she hoped so.

She also wondered if one day she might try something a little more...risqué, but they were too early in their relationship to try that. But a certain fantasy she had last night about it was certainly something to think about since it was a very good dream and she had been wondering if one day she would get the guts to try that. She blushed slightly at the thought.

"I'm finished Katya." He said calling her by a nickname he had started to call her, and she loved how it sounded coming from him. She walked over to him and like always she loved what she saw.

"God you're so talented, I mean all of you work is like so good." She said staring at the image on the paper.

Piotr blushed a little at the compliments. "I am only as good as my subject matter." Kitty giggled, as it was her turn to blush.

She put her arms around his neck and hugged him. "You are so sweet." She said then she looked into his eyes and his locked onto hers. They stared at each other for a minute then slowly moved closer and lightly caressed each other's lips with their own. Soon the pressure increased, as they got more comfortable with each other.

**MED LAB**

Gale was working with Beast in the lab with a few things. She had asked Hank in help with her medical studies, since she had wanted to be a doctor like her father. She already had first aid experience helping her father out for years, but now she was ready for more.

Hank also liked it because he was able to teach her things that none of the other students either had an interest in or had to skills to use it, but Gale was exceptional. She really did have a gift for medicine and he wasn't referring to her healing powers. That was another thing they had worked on.

Gale could do simple things like fix bones and close wounds but the more complicated the harder it was to heal. Like Vincent's heart, that took over five minutes to heal because she wasn't sure what the heart looked like when healthy. Apparently the more she knew about the human body the better and faster she could heal them. Which was important since she also seemed to have a limited supply of energy for healing and the longer it took the more drained she got.

So Hank only wanted to use her powers for serious problems and not mundane ones and Xavier had agreed to it. If someone wanted healing they had to ask Beast before they asked Gale, it wouldn't help her if she started to faint from over using her powers. So now he watched as Gale was reading through a medical text he had absorbing it all eagerly.

"You know, I had no idea the human body was so complex until now." Gale said closing the book and stretched from over an hour leaning over the book and reading. "Thanks for helping me with this Mr. McCoy."

Hank smiled at his young protégée as he had started to think of her. "I'm happy to help and for the help. It's not easy caring for a house full of young mutants."

Gale laughed. "Tell me about it. I didn't know there were so many accidents that could happen around here eh?"

Just then a glowing disk formed out of nowhere and a familiar sixteen year old blond girl fell out of it and right on her butt onto the hard floor. "Ouch!" He exclaimed and started angrily talking in Russian but stopped when she saw she wasn't alone. "Uh...hi everyone." She said sheepishly.

"Illyana! What are you doing here?" Gale said happy to see the girl and helped Illyana to her feet.

"Dr. Strange said I could visit now that I got my teleportation powers under control...well...for the most part, I was trying to land on the front yard." She blushed slightly at arriving at the wrong place. "So how's everything?"

Gale laughed. "Same old...well...actually we got attacked yesterday by this woman Selene and her Hellions, several people were captured to lure the X-Men into a fight."

Illyana gasped. "Was anyone hurt? How's Piotr?" She asked worried for her brother.

Beast smiled and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Everything worked out fine, and your brother if just fine."

Illyana sighed in relief. "That's good to know. Actually Dr. Strange sent me here to ask the Professor something. He sensed some kind of dark magic at work in this area and wanted to know if you had any idea what that might be?"

"That would have been Selene." Gale said coldly.

"Oh. Well I should talk to the Professor I'm sure he and Dr. Strange might want to talk about her, plus there's something I want to ask him and then...I'm going to surprise my big brother." She got a huge smile on her face as she went off to find the Professor and both Hank and Gale shared an amused look knowing this was a surprise Piotr would love.

After Illyana had talked to the Professor who used the same talisman to call on Dr. Strange he also agreed to Illyana's request. Now that it was set up she just hoped Piotr wouldn't make a scene. Then she saw him there sitting on a couch facing away from the doorway with Kitty. They were talking and laughing and she grinned and she crept up to him.

She placed her hands over his eyes. "Guess who?" She asked in Russian.

Piotr immediately stood up and turned to her. "Illyana!" He said happily quickly running around the couch and picking up his little sister. She giggled with joy as he lifted her up into the air and Kitty watched smiling at the scene, it was times like this she wished she hadn't been an only child.

"How have you been Snowflake?" He asked her in Russian using her childhood nickname.

"Oh it's been going really well." She told him going back into English. "I'm learning a _lot_, I mean I never there was so much to magic, but at least I'm gaining enough control so my powers don't start acting on their own...well...most of the time at least."

"Plus there are other people there too. I made a few friends with the two other girls August and Jennifer."

They moved back to the couch and Illyana took a seat across from them as Piotr sat back with Kitty. They talked about what they had been doing and then Illyana noticed that Kitty and Piotr were holding hands and seemed real comfortable with each other.

She got a smile on her face as she looked to Kitty. "I got to ask you something...are you and my brother dating?"

Kitty and Piotr both blushed and Kitty nodded. "Yeah...we kind of just started." Illyana screamed in joy and went over to hug Kitty.

"Oh this is so great, I mean mama always was worried that Piotr was so shy he might never get the courage to ask a girl out on a date then actually get a girlfriend or get married. Plus I know enough about you to know you're just right for my brother too."

Kitty giggled at seeing Piotr's embarrassment. "Well you're brother is really sweat and a gentleman too."

Illyana agreed. "Yeah he is isn't he? This is so great Piotr! You've found a girlfriend and I found a boyfriend and-"

"What! Boyfriend? When?" Piotr said shocked at that revelation.

Illyana gulped. "Uh...nothing...w-who said anything about a boyfriend?" She asked giving him an innocent look but he didn't buy it and looked sternly at her. "Okay! I met someone at Dr. Strange's, he's been helping him out."

"Who is he?" He demanded.

"He's really, really nice, and really, really cute and...he's-coming-over-so-you-can-meet-him-but-please-be-nice!"

It took a moment for him to piece together that last part. "I want to meet this boy." He said sternly going into his over-protective big brother mode. Illyana got a worried look and gave Kitty a pleading look.

"Piotr, like just give the guy an chance I mean he can't be as bad as you think." She said to him.

He thought about it and sighed. "Alright...but I want to know more about him first."

"Well...he's a year older then me for starters, and he's an orphan." She began. Piotr didn't like her dating someone older but at least was just a year, but that orphan part struck a cord with him. "You see he was taken in my this nice man. He looked up to him and everything but you see...he was dying of cancer so he used black magic to make sure he didn't die from it." Illyana said sadly remembering the story.

Kitty gasped. "Did it work?"

"Well...yes and no." She told Kitty. "He still died...just in an accident and not from cancer. But the thing was he had to pay a price for keeping the man safe from the cancer and he nearly lost his entire soul but...well...the man's daughter saved him." She looked a little uncomfortable when she got to the part about the girl.

"Was there something going on with the girl and your boyfriend?" Kitty asked her.

"Yeah." She said bitterly. "She tried to help him a little after but gave up and dumped him, so if I ever find that witch I'd like nothing better to give her a piece of my mind, I mean you didn't see how Johnny was so upset when he came to Dr. Strange. "

"Talking about me already?" Came a male and unfamiliar voice. They all turned to see a boy of seventeen with long blond hair in a ponytail, which only seemed to make him more good looking, and he was in jeans and a black T-shirt. "Hey Yana, Dr. Strange just came in and him and that Professor guy were talking so I decided to see if I could find you."

Illyana screamed in joy and rushed over to him hugging him. "Miss me?" He said amused.

"What do you think?" She said happily then turned to the others. "Guys this is Johnny, Johnny this is my big brother Piotr and his girlfriend Kitty."

"When you said big brother you didn't mention huge." John whispered to her causing her to giggle at his discomfort. He put a hand out to shake with Piotr. "Hi, I'm John Blaze nice to finally meet you, Yana has told me a lot about you."

"Yes...well I look forward to getting to know you." Piotr said to him, but not entirely in a friendly manner.

While the four of them were getting to know one another Dr. Strange and Xavier were talking. "So you think you can help with Selene?" Xavier asked the former Doctor.

They were both sitting across a small table drinking tea. "Yes, I believe she used a teleportation spell to get in your mansion, I could place a few powerful ward spells so she can't try that again."

"I must admit that would be a relieve to know that ...woman, if you can call her that, won't be dropping by like she did last time." He told the sorcerer, he still hated what that woman had so casually done to his students, plus kicking him over still made him angry.

"Well I can have it finished in a few hours, and I don't blame you for sounding so angry with that woman." Dr. Strange took a sip of his tea. "I've read about her and let me tell you, she is one nasty customer, and believe me if even half of what I read about her is true you all got off lucky."

"How so?" Xavier asked him.

"Does the name Pompeii ring any bells?" Strange told him and Xavier paled slightly. "Yes she is capable of such destruction." Suddenly the silence was broken by the sounds of shouting and explosions were heard. "Is that...normal?"

Xavier looked concerned since he got a great about of fear and anger coming from the backyard. "Normally yes but I have a bad feeling about this." Both he and Strange rushed to the backyard and were shocked to see most of the students there seemingly frozen in place as they glowed in a red light.

"This is magic but..." Dr. Strange reached out with his mystic senses but he didn't find it until it was too late, he turned behind them only to get hit in the chest with a magical bolt that froze him and Xavier soon followed.

From the roof Selene watched in amusement. She floated herself down to face the sorcerer and grinned at him. "Well this is a surprise, I would have thought that Earth's sorcerer supreme would have been able to sense a cloaking spell? You must be getting old." Then she turned to Xavier. "Guess who's back for round two baldy?"

Piotr, Kitty, Illyana and John heard the commotion and ran to the sound of it. As the four of them came outside they saw that Selene was back and now she had all the mutants in mystic shields she turned to face them with a smile. "Ah...so there are the stranglers and a couple of new faces too, how nice." Selene said with an evil grin.

"Leave them alone!" Illyana yelled and called forth the Soul Sword, as Piotr changed into his armored form.

Selene saw the Soul Sword and grinned. "Well...so you're the new wielder of the blade, but have you mastered the blade?" She began a chant and thunderbolts launched at Illyana she tried to parry them but there were too many and she got hit several times.

"Illyana!" Piotr said going to his sister but a magic blast from Selene caught him in the back and sent him into the mansion making a huge dent in the wall and he slumped onto the ground. Kitty was too him and John rushed over to his girlfriend.

She was still breathing but she was out for the moment. He looked at Selene with pure hatred. "You shouldn't have done that!" He spat at her.

"Please what can you do?" She said overconfident.

"By myself...nothing, but I'm not alone." He said in anger standing up he threw his head back as it was engulfed in fire and then soon the rest of his body. As the fires died instead of a burnt Johnny now stood a six foot tall individual. Clad in all black biker leather jeans, boats and a jacket with gauntlet like gloves and around the waist, on the shoulders and around the wrist were metallic spikes.

There was a chain wrapped around over the shoulder horizontally across his body. But what was really noticeable was what he had for a head. Now over the gap in the jacket there was no neck and a skull was floating in flames for a head.

"_I am the Ghost Rider, Spirit of Vengeance_." He said in an otherworldly voice that chilled many that heard it to the bones. He pointed at Selene and the skull seemed to take on an angry look almost like the bones morphed into an angry glare as the eyes literally burned with hatred and inner fire. "_You! You have spilled the blood of the innocent, their souls cry out for vengeance! I will burn your soul with hellfire witch and you will have your penance as you feel all the suffering you have caused in life visited upon you_."

"You think you can stand up to me?" Selene said in disbelieve. "I am Selene, immortal mistress of the dark arts and you think some spirit of vengeance can beat me?"

"_Yes...there will be no escaping my wrath. You shall be cleansed in the purity of fire_." He unhooked the chain and it lashed it out at Selene and the links at the end of the chain glowed and seemed to launch them selves at her, without making the chain shorter.

Selene dodged the attack by leaping to the side. She hadn't had planned of fighting this creature, but she was going to show this spirit who was the menace here. But the Ghost Rider was quicker and managed to wrap the chain around her ankle with that he pulled and her over his head and landed hard on the ground.

She snarled at him and stretched out her hand as four glowing energy lances formed and shot out. Two of each imbedded in Ghost Rider's arms and the force sent him to the wall of the mansion and he was literally nailed to the wall.

He struggled but couldn't get himself free. "Well now whose going to save you?" Selene asked as she stood up gloating at him.

A fireball came out of nowhere and slammed into her. Her body started to heal from the damaged and looked up to see two more new faces. "We are." Said the seventeen-year-old girl dressed in black. She had long dark hair and another fireball in the one of her hands.

"August." Selene said with disgust.

"Hello...mother." August said coldly looking at her with pure hatred. "Jen see the Illyana." August told the other girl about her age, who had short hair and dressed in urban city style clothing.

"On it." She said running over to Illyana and she started to chant and Illyana's body slowly glowed.

Piotr had come to by then and looked at the scene and at what was nailed to the wall of the mansion. "What is that?" He said to Kitty looking at Ghost Rider.

"Uh...that's John." Kitty told him helping him stand. Colossus was wondering just what her sister's boyfriend had gotten himself into to have the ability to do that.

August and Selene faced off against each other. "I knew you were a mistake." Selene spat at her.

"I'm so hurt, now I remember why I don't like mother's day." August shot back at her estranged mother.

"You may be training under Dr. Strange, but you don't have the power to go up against me." Selene said.

"She doesn't have to." They both turned to see a very angry Illyana now standing with the Soul Sword in hand. "And I won't be the only one you have to answer to." She raised the sword and began a chant. White flames shot out of it hitting each person in the glow of Selene's magic and the red glow faded as each person started to move.

"Not again." Selene growled out. "I really have to look into a new way to keep my prisoners held in place and not easy broken out of." She gave Illyana a glare and vanished once again in flames.

Illyana smirked then saw Ghost Rider impaled on the wall and she gasped as she ran over to him. She said a simple dispel enchantment and the lances disappeared and he fell to the ground and slowly transformed back into John.

He looked around seeing everyone there. "I guess we got a few things to fill them in on huh?" He said to Illyana.

"Yeah...I think so." She told him.

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**NEXT UP CHAPTER 25: PAINFUL MEMORIES**


	25. Painful memories

Ldypebsaby: August is an OC created by R-Man that's the daughter of Selene, so be sure to check out his work with her to know more about her.

Ruby631: Glad to see you're back. I figured that hurricane was the reason you weren't around lately, glad you're back and I hope that was the LAST one too.

Red Witch: Actually I'll be lucky to make it to 50 chapters, I am trying to make Spider-X, The New Teacher and hopefully Justice League: The Spider and with R-Man's help, Exiles 100 chapters.

Aaron: I'm trying to figure out a way to bring in Dan, but if Johnny is Ghost Rider then I have no idea what he would be in the story.

Celtcath74: I was thinking of forming the Secret Defenders with those people with Strange, and I am trying to come up with a way to bring in Steve Rodgers again.

TheLegendaryManHimself: I keep a list of all the main characters and others of those that make a 'guest' appearance, plus a few things I keep in my memory.

Xmenfan: Nice story ideas but I got something other planned, as for age difference. Piotr is 19 and Kitty is nearly 18 so it's not that big a difference, besides Lance was older then her too. And it's AGU (Agent-G Universe) not ASG (whatever that was supposed to stand for) please drop the evolving thing now, I want to lead up to it, but Vince is powerful enough and Jean will one day be the phoenix so she won't evolve either. The uniforms won't be made until MUCH later on.

Sparky Genocide: oh yeah he'll want an explanation all right, as for her dating Ghost Rider I wanted something no one saw coming.

The Uncanny R-Man: Yeah I wanted to real surprise out of this chapter, and if you think Selene is pissed off before she won't like this defeat either.

slickboy444: Well I'm trying to make it seem that Evolution is more a part of the Marvel universe and that has magic in it. Glad you liked the Kitty/Piotr moments, as for that...maybe one day, just hope Logan doesn't catch them doing that though, lol.

Winblades: What can I say? I like to surprise people, I mean why do what everyone else does instead of trying to be a little original that, and I try not to be predictable.

Thanks to: X00001, LadyDeathStrike1, DemonRogue13, Ranndie Mazda

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**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 25: PAINFUL MEMORIES**

After everyone was alright Dr. Strange went to prepare a barrier spell for the Institute so Selene wouldn't be back anytime soon. Everyone was jammed into the large living room, Dr. Strange's guest had seats, as did Illyana, John, Kitty and Piotr. There were a few others sitting but everyone else had to either stand or sit on the floor.

The two new girls had explained while everyone was getting comfortable that Jennifer had sensed something wrong and had gotten August and together they used a teleportation spell to get there just in time.

"So I guess we should explain ourselves a bit?" John said looking to the others. He took a deep sigh. "Alright I guess I'll start off. It all started several years ago when a stunt driver who rode motorcycles took me in. His name was Crash Simpson, for years I worked with him as he taught me everything he knew, and...I got close to his daughter Roxanne. Then not too long ago we found out Crash had terminal cancer."

John laughed a little. "But you know what? He didn't let that stop him he kept on going. But I didn't want to let him die, so I turned to the occult. I tried to find some kind of magic but I didn't have the gift of magic to use them or nothing worked. So I turned to the dark arts and in my desperation I called on Mephisto."

"Who?" Bobby asked.

"The Devil." Illyana explained.

John nodded solemnly. "Yeah...I made a deal that if he didn't die from the cancer I would give up my soul." Everyone was shocked to hear that he was willing to go so far to safe him. Then Johnny's face darkened. "But I was cheated. Sure the cancer was miraculously gone but on the next stunt...he died. He crashed his bike into some cars he was trying to jump over...then later that night Mephisto came back and demanded payment, and I told him no."

"Well he tried to take my soul anyway but Roxanne had seen the books that I was reading and figured out what I was up too. At the last moment she came in and saved me with some kind of enchantment or something. My soul was safe but boy was he pissed. He cursed me you see. He bonded me with the Ghost Rider for the rest of my life. Roxanne tried to find a way to free me of the curse but...she couldn't."

"Then she dumped him." Illyana said angrily.

"Yeah...well anyway I've been struggling with Ghost Rider for over a year now trying to gain some control. I mean when I chance I black out and sometimes they last for hours or even weeks. Dr. Strange found me and has been helping me control this, so that I can at least live with it."

"So Dr. Strange can't like just un-curse you?" Kitty asked him.

Johnny shook his head. "Not without killing me or something even worse." Then he turned to his head to the other two girls. "So whose next?"

"I'll go." Jen said. "Well my name is Jennifer Kale and as it turns out john and I are distant cousins. We only found that out not long ago. I got this mystic ability of a medium but when Dr. Strange approached me he told me I had a lot of potential. So now I'm studying the Wiccan arts. Also we got another cousin out there named Dan Ketch but we're still looking for him."

August was the last one as she was sitting with her arms folded and had her legs crossed. "Well as you heard my mother is you can call her that, is Selene but it's not exactly something I'm proud of."

"Hey join tha club." Rogue said. "Ya ain't the only one with a psycho for a mother."

"No offence Rogue, but from what Illyana told me my mother makes yours seem perfect."

"Ah find that hard ta believe." Rogue scoffed.

"Oh yeah?" August said unfolding her arms and leaning forward. "Let me tell you about my mother, she's a power hungry woman that will do anything and I do mean anything to get what she wants and she doesn't care about anything else. She's gone through the ages killing, torturing and doing gods knows what."

"She doesn't give a damn about anyone...not even me. You see she's part mutant but also part sorceress and I know what you're thinking yes I'm a mutant too; those fireballs were part of my powers. But she also trained me in the black arts. But when I was sixteen I refused go through with this ceremony that required me to sacrifice this poor guy to some demon or something."

She leaned back into her chair. "Well she was disappointed in me and decided that if I couldn't follow in her footsteps then I had to be punished. So she sent me to Limbo under guard of these demons that she had some pull with."

"Demons?" Kurt said astonished. "You mean actually demons?"

She nodded her head. "Yeah, and from what Illyana told me about you cutie you shouldn't worry about looking like one of them, trust me your much better looking then they are." She said giving him a small wink, which made Amanda a little uncomfortable, August saw this and smiled at her. "Don't worry I won't pull a 'Jillian' on him, and count yourself lucky too."

"Believe me I do." Amanda said back to her with a smile.

"So what was Limbo like?" Jamie asked.

August was a little uncomfortable with that. "It...wasn't pleasant. I mean I was in a cell for I don't know now long since there were no windows but then again there's no sky and time doesn't work the same there. Plus I was afraid of what the guards might try to do."

"Like what?" Rahne asked.

"You don't want to know." August said sorrowfully.

"It can't be that bad could it?" Jubilee said to her next.

August sighed. "Fine but I warned you. Let me paint a picture for you, sixteen-year-old virgin girl surrounded by demons. I was just lucky that the demons my mom picked out where the ones that thought humans were disgusting, but then again she most likely planned that too."

"I mean there are three things demons like to do with virgins. One is screw them, so I was afraid that one of them was going to rape me, which is mostly fatal by the way to have sex with most kinds of demons. Two is if I survived the previous one, I would get pregnant and that too is mostly fatal."

"Do we really want to know?" Tabitha asked like the others not liking where this was going.

"You ever see Alien?" August asked her and she saw a few faces get slightly pale. "Yeah kind of like that. But then I would be lucky if it was just one of those two, number three is worse of all"

"What could be worse then that?" Logan nearly shouted, he had seen and heard of some sick things but this was getting a little too much.

"Sacrifice." She nearly whispered. "I mean they vary but I really remember the horrible ones, which were running through my mind the entire time I was there. I mean there are some that rip your soul out and it's devoured by a demon, or there's a few where they magically keep you alive and conscious as they slowly kill you a certain way, like cutting off all your skin and then they start with the flesh underneath and keep going until your just a skeleton."

"Good God." Ororo whispered under her breath. "You mean any one of those could have happened to you?"

"Yeah." August replied. "Or all three if I was _really_ unlucky, that and I wouldn't put it past Selene if she was holding me until I either changed my mind or until she sacrificed me herself for more power. I'm just lucky that Dr. Strange found me and busted me out of there before _any_ of that happed. I had nightmares for months after it though. But for nearly two years now I've lived with him and he's helped me a lot, not only with helping me get over that nightmare but also he's been teaching me magic too and this time it's the good kind of magic."

"Okay ah admit...you're mom is more of a psycho then mine." Rogue said to her.

"Told ya." Then August looked to Amara. "You're the princess of Nova Roma right?" Amara nodded being a little nervous around her. "Your parents kicked my super bitch of a mother out of your country right?" Again Amara nodded. Then August smiled and gave her a thumbs up sign. "Good one!" Amara was a little bewildered by that. "Hey anything that pisses her off is good news to me." August explained.

The students then started to ask them questions about what it was like at Dr. Strange's and someone asked if it was anything like Harry Potter but the four of them quickly told them it was nothing like that and it was a lot of hard work and studying. After a little time everyone was splitting up and going back to what they were going to do.

Amara and August were actually starting to get along since they both had a strong dislike for Selene and both had firepowers. They were comparing note on how much trouble and fun having that kind of a power could be. Jen was talking with Blink and Dani. While Piotr, Kitty, Illyana and Johnny went off for a more personal talk.

Tabitha saw Sam and she got a grin as she walked up to him. "Hey Sam did Amara ever get to give you that message?"

"Ah don't think so, ah was out back with the others when she showed up so no."

"Well I wanted your opinion on something could you come up to my room in ten minutes?" She asked him.

"Uh...sure Tabby." Sam replied. He wasn't sure what she had planned but with her he couldn't even guess, it was one of the things he liked about her, no matter what she always surprised him.

Sarah however has thinking over what she had heard. She never hear of demons, Limbo, or any of this other stuff and was wondering to look it up like how they had showed her how to do that with the internet on the computers not long ago, or just ask someone. She was also thinking about August and her relationship with her mother Selene and it made her think of Dr. Risman. Sure she had been in charge of the experiments done on her, but after thinking on it a lot she realized that Risman had always seemed to lessen the 'tests' done on her then the others and always gave her more breaks and other things that the other scientists didn't do. Looking back on it, it seemed that Risman had gone out of her way to try and make sure she got the best treatment she could get in her position without Hydra catching on.

She was wondering if that was true or just coincidence. "Some thing on your mind?" She turned to see Logan standing close to her.

She shrugged. "Just thinking on a few things, like having to look up some of the things that they talked about."

"Like what?" Logan asked curious, he knew she has lived a 'sheltered' life and was still learning the outside world.

She thought about one of the things she heard about. "What's sex?"

Logan's jaw dropped and then he just groaned. "Anything but that...please."

"What's wrong?" Ororo asked. She had seen the stricken look on Logan's face and was wondering if anything was wrong.

"I asked him what sex was?" Sarah said simply. Ororo smirked as she saw Logan actually wince when she said that and knew right away how uncomfortable it was for him.

"Tell you what, how about I fill you in on that, since I think you need a woman's view on it and I doubt Logan could tell you since it obviously makes him uncomfortable." Ororo said to her.

"Please." Logan said to Strom. "I'll do anything for ya if ya do, I'm not cut out for 'the talk', and you know it." Ororo smiled and nodded, there were a few things Logan couldn't do and talking to a teenage girl about sex was not one of them.

Piotr and the others were in the Kitchen and he had to ask Illyana a few things but he didn't want to the others to know so while Kitty was questioning John he decided to ask Illyana in Russian. "Do you really like him?"

"Yes, he's very good and kind to me brother." She told him honestly. "Plus it hasn't been easy for him this last year, I know the whole changing into a spirit of vengeance thing is...different. But then so are our lives I mean Kitty has an actual dragon. That reminds me."

Illyana turned to Kitty. "Hey Kitty, I looked through a book of dragons and I found out that Lockheed is a dwarf dragon, I can make a copy of what it said and send it to you."

"Really?" Kitty said excitedly. "That's great, now if you excuse me Bobby owes me twenty bucks. He bet me Lockheed was a genetically engineered lizard or something." She told them as she stood up and left the room. "Hey Bobby you like owe me twenty bucks!" They heard her shout out.

Piotr looked at John and then to Illyana. "You're sure about him?" He asked her once again in Russian.

"Yes I am." She replied in their native tongue.

Piotr sighed. "Well you're a big girl now...but if he hurts you, you know I have to hunt him down." She laughed and leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"I take it he approves?" Johnny asked seeing that since he didn't understand a word that they had said. 'Mental note, learn Russian.' He thought to himself.

Upstairs Sam was on his way to Tabitha and Amara's room. He knocked and heard Tabitha said to come in. He wasn't sure what exactly was going on but then again why spoil the surprise. When he got in there was no one there. "Tabby?" He asked.

"Just a minute." She said from the bathroom. Then she came out and Sam's jaw dropped. Tabitha was wearing the schoolgirl uniform that she borrowed from Jean and she was wearing white stocking and had her hair in two pigtails and had a lollypop too. She twirled around to give him an eye full. "So...what do you think?"

Sam tried to say something, anything but his brain had shut down at the visual overload. All he could do was make random sounds.

"Oh really?" She teased him. "Well I guess it is a bit much thanks for your opinion." The next thing Sam knew he was outside her door in the hall, he just stood there blinking a few times before he walked off in a daze. Roberto and Alex.

They both noticed his strange walking and the stare he had going. "Yo man you alright?" Roberto asked him the next thing they knew Sam fell to the ground. Both ran over to pick him up and they saw a grin on his face.

"What happened?" Alex asked Roberto.

"If I had to guess?" Roberto said as he helped him carry Sam. "Tabitha. Help me get him to his room."

After Dr. Strange had finished with the spell it was time for everyone to leave. Illyana hugged her brother goodbye and Johnny and him shook hands.

August and Amara said their goodbyes too and they actually promised to stay in contact. "Well this has been an interesting visit." Dr. Strange told Xavier. "But I have to get back."

Xavier nodded. "I understand and thanks for that barrier, you're sure Selene won't get through it?"

Dr. Strange nodded. "I'm sure of it you won't have any problems with her dropping in anymore."

Xavier smiled. "Well that is good news." Everyone said their final goodbyes and Dr. Strange teleported them all away.

Kitty saw the look on Piotr's face and could tell he hated to say goodbye to his little sister. He walked off with a glum look on his face and Kitty decided she would give him some time to himself he looked like he needed it.

While everyone got back to what they were doing Xavier realized there was something he nearly forgotten to do today. Today was supposed to be one of the sessions with Wanda. Even though it was evidently clear that she didn't like it, Xavier knew that keeping her feelings bottled up like they were wasn't healthy for her. He scanned the mansion for her and sent a telepathic message to meet him. He had to admit there were days when having telepathy was handy to have. It did save a lot of time looking through the entire mansion for someone.

He went to his study and waited. It was one of the few quiet places in the mansion so it offered max privacy, which is what sessions like these demanded. It wasn't long until Wanda walked in. She took her usual seat and he rolled right across from her.

Seeing how she was sitting he knew she didn't like this, but it was necessary. "Wanda I know you don't like to talk about this but you need to in order to heal."

"I think I can heal just fine if I can hurt Magneto." She said coldly.

Xavier sighed. "Wanda I know some of what you're going through.'

She snorted at that. "Please! Were you ever locked up for years? Were you always afraid? Did you miss out on life? I had a father who didn't give a damn about me! He just threw me away, I bet your father was perfect compared to mine!"

"I wouldn't know." Charles said evenly. "My biological father died when I was young, but then my mother remarried."

"So what?" Wanda said to him harshly. She didn't like any of this, talking about her past only upset her.

"Because he wasn't the most caring man." He said and his face took on a slightly darker almost haunted look that Wanda was surprised to see. "You see your father did lock you away, when I was younger I most likely would have preferred that...you see he used to...to beat me."

Wanda was shocked by this revelation; she figured that Xavier had a normal childhood even privileged, but not something like this. She looked at him now and especially his legs. "Did...did he do that?" She motioned to his legs.

"No...that was something else." Xavier said softly. "But I think he came close to it a few times."

"W-why didn't your mother ever stop it?" Wanda asked him.

"She didn't know...you see she was...very sick Wanda. And I didn't want to upset her or it might have made her worse, plus my stepfather was careful...he made sure none of the bruises were on my face and I covered them well enough so no one knew. I too was afraid you see. I was afraid that every time that man was close I was going to get hurt."

"I hated him." Wanda was shocked to hear him say something like that. Wanda thought he wasn't capable of hating anyone but he just nodded. "Yes Wanda...even I can hate someone. I had to watch my mother waste away and had to endure countless beatings. He always acted like I was the best thing that happened to him around other people, but in truth...he didn't care about me, or my mother. He just married her to get to her money."

Wanda was quiet a moment, she looked down at her feet to avoid his eyes. "Why can't fathers love their children?" She asked under her breath.

"What was that Wanda?" Xavier asked as he leaned forward slightly. Her fists tighten in her lap but she didn't respond. "Wanda...are you angry for your father for putting in that place...or was there another reason, something you haven't told me...or maybe told yourself?"

Xavier could see a few tears falling now and he gently whipped them away from her cheeks and rose her head up to meet his eyes. He could not see any anger just pain in her eyes and he guessed this is what was behind all her anger. "Wanda...tell me." He gently urged her.

"Why...why didn't he love me?" She asked him her voice cracking from the emotions. "I-I though he loved me then...then..." She broke off as the true reason for her pain surfaced. Yes she was angry with what was done to her, but the pain behind her anger was that of a child wanting the love of their parent but never getting it. Xavier reached over and tried to bring her closer to embrace her and she easily leaned forward hugging him and resting her head on his shoulder.

"I-I...I..." She tried to talk but she couldn't. This was a pain that she had tried her best to ignore, to bury, to deny. But it had always been inside of her. All she ever wanted from her father was his love. Xavier stroked the back of her head and said words to try and comfort her.

She couldn't remember the last time anyone tried to do that for her and then she couldn't hold off anymore. Years of repressed pain came flooding in and she openly cried on his shoulder. She sobbed on his as he held her and he tried his best to sooth her pain. He could feel her pain and it broke his heart.

'How could you leave a child Eric, especially one of your own like that?' He silently asked as he held the young woman baring the pain that was hidden deep in her soul.

**OUTSIDE**

Kitty later found Piotr looking into the distance seemingly lost in thought. "Hey, how are you doing?" She asked softly.

He looked at her and shrugged. "It is not easy for me to say goodbye to her. I was supposed to look out for her...but I failed that."

Kitty looked a little confused. "What do you mean by that?" He was quiet and she was wondering what he was keeping from her. "Hey I'm like your girlfriend if you can't tell me then who can you tell?" She softly asked him putting a hand on his arm.

His head lowered a bit. "Remember how I said our parents had died?" Kitty nodded. "Well I was working in the field and I don't know how it started but I saw smoke from the house. I ran back and saw the flames and heard my family inside. I turned into my metal form since I don't need to breath and for the protection."

"I crashed through the front door and I saw my parents trapped behind the flames I was going to get to them but then I heard Illyana cry out. Both my parents told he to get her out first, so I did. I found her trapped in her room the door blocked by fire. I smashed through the door and then I made a hole in the wall of her room to the outside."

"I carried her, since she was coughing from the smoke and was weak from it too. I ran as fast as I could to get her clear then I went back inside. I threw the support beam asides that was blocking them but then I saw them...there was another large piece of wood on them, it looked like my father had thrown himself on my mother to protect her." Piotr stopped slightly as the tears started to fall from his eyes at the memory and Kitty took his hand and squeezed gently.

"I...I took the large piece of wood aside and...and when I turned my father over his eyes...his eyes were open but there was nothing there, they just stared out blankly...I knew he was dead. Then...Then I heard my mother moan and I took her in my arms and carried her out. I placed her down next to Illyana but when I looked she was badly burned."

"She...she looked up to me and actually smiled. She told me how proud she and my father were of us and that they loved us...then she made me promise to look out for Illyana...she...she died in my arms not long after that. Not long after...after that ...Illyana was gone, I had fail my mother and I broke the promise." Kitty was now also in tears from hearing the story and hugged him close to her and she felt his tears fall on the side of her face.

She tried to think of something, anything to say. "You did your best you couldn't have known that Magneto would have taken her, and you did find her again and she's safe now, you kept the promise." She told him gently as she held him as he poured the pain he had kept inside ever since that dark day.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 26: WANDA'S FIRST DATE**

Yep, Simon comes to visit and takes Wanda out on the town.


	26. Wanda's First Date

Ldypebsaby: Thanks I really tried with that one part with Xavier and Wanda

Red Witch: Thanks, and I'll try but I'm not promising anything.

Aaron: I thought about it, but I'm too busy as it is to start a new string of stories myself plus I'm not sure if I'll get back to those characters anytime soon either.

Celtcath74: Thanks, I thought it was time to show how Xavier helps the kids in a more personal way, as well as go deeper into Wanda's character.

TheLegendaryManHimself: Glad you liked the bonding and the parts with Sarah and Tabitha too.

Xmenfan: I wasn't upset but I was annoyed. I don't mind ideas people give me but you kept on asking the same thing in every review and that really gets old. Actually the Phoenix powers are not from Jean evolving but are actually an entity (Almost god like) that bonded with Jean called the Phoenix Force. In fact Dark Phoenix may have looked like Jean but in reality just took her form it was another entity all together. Juggernaut and Xavier are actually stepbrothers, I think the writers just screwed up and didn't catch it. I'm going to do a little more research before I reveal what happened to Xavier before I write that, the working with Jean was touched on a little earlier but I'll make a larger scene.

Sparky Genocide: That's why my stories are in the 'general' category. I like to write about different things and make each chapter unique. And as for Wanda you know it, it's just a matter of whose brave or stupid enough to try.

The Uncanny R-Man: Well the Exiles background was the one I was most familiar with. As for X23 asking that question I knew I had to have her ask that at one point so I figured why not there.

slickboy444: Thanks, I tried my best for an emotional chapter for that one with highs and lows throughout it. I am thinking of paring Logan and Ororo up since they are the only ones I don't have plans for yet, but I want to build up to it.

Winblades: You meant Scarlet Witch right? Cause Red Witch is the pen name of one of my favorite authors. What Wanda's does for fun will be one of the things I'll address.

Thanks to: X00001, Ruby631, fireinu,

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 26: WANDA'S FIRST DATE**

Wanda was at one of the computers in the library that was hooked up to the Internet. She never bothered to go on it before but he had gotten herself one of those e-mail accounts since she wanted to try and keep in touch with Lorna and mail was too slow.

She and Lorna had been talking back and forth for a time and Wanda got Kitty to show her how to get on one of those IM things so she and Lorna could 'talk' without having taking tying up the phone lines for the others.

She had to admit she enjoyed hearing from her little sister, which was still weird for her to think of the younger green haired girl she just met as her sister. But they had been 'catching' up as it were this way. Wanda didn't have much to say for obvious reasons but Lorna seemed the type to not mind talking and that was fine with Wanda. Lorna told her at least the stuff that wasn't classified, that X-force did and what the base was like where she lived.

Lorna couldn't tell her where the base was but she sounded like she enjoyed her time there. Apparently X-Force was split into several factions. There was the main team that had gone to the Mansion but there was also a trainee squad much like the New Mutants only with fewer members. Then there were the specialist members that either went on their own missions or went with the main team to help out.

The last group was the more experienced members and apparently three of the members were part of the Prodigy experiments. Wanda closed off the message and was ready to log off when she saw a new one had appeared when she had been reading.

She didn't recognize the name but when she opened it was surprised to see it was from Simon. It seemed he had asked Lorna for her e-mail address. It read that he had the day off tomorrow and wanted to know if he could stop on by and they could get together. Wanda was a little surprised but also liked the idea. Simon seemed to be a lot more mature then most of the others plus he had been nice to her when they first met so why not? She sent a replay saying she wouldn't mind, she didn't want to sound desperate or something like that.

'Then why do you suddenly got this feeling in your stomach like butterflies or something?' Her inner voice told her, but she just told it to shut up. She went to her room seeing if she had anything decent for tomorrow. She didn't want to get all dressed up but she wanted to make sure she still had her good clothing.

When she reached her room she saw Rogue reading on her bed, so she just ignored her and went to the closet. She looked through and saw several decent outfits but for some reason every time she thought of putting one aside for tomorrow she wasn't sure if it would be right for the day. Simon didn't say if they were going to just hang out in town or if he was taking her somewhere. After fifteen minutes Rogue had stopped reading and was wondering what Wanda was up too since she never seemed to care so much about what she was going to wear.

Rogue was pretty much the same, normally she only worried about what to wear was if it some kind of special event or...or when she was going out with Vincent. A small smile got on her lips at that thought and wondered if Wanda actually had a date or something. "Ya got somethin' special planned?" Rogue asked slyly.

Wanda froze and looked at Rogue. "What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Nothin' it's just that ya seem ta be lookin' through tha closet for over fifteen minutes." Rogue said to her not taking her eyes off her book.

"It's personal." Wanda snapped. "Besides shouldn't you be making out with a Canadian about now or something?"

"He, Kurt and Piotr are off doin' somethin' so ah'm enjoying some peace and quiet. And there's nothin' ta be ashamed of if you got a date."

"Who said I got a date?" Wanda she asked her putting her hands on her hips.

Rogue was starting to enjoy this but tried not to show it. "Well ya've been acting all strange since ya got in here. And ya've been lookin' through that closet lookin' for somethin' ta wear. So ya got to have a date. So tha only question now is who is it?"

"Look someone is coming tomorrow and we're just going to hand out, that's it. We're just going out as friends nothing more." Wanda snapped back.

"Well then ya don't have ta worry about anything." Rogue said as if she wasn't interested. "Who is this 'friend' of yours anyway?"

Wanda let out a low growl in frustration. "It's Simon, you know the guy from X-Force?"

"Oh him." Rogue said remembering the boy. "That tall handsome ex-movie star wants ta come over and take you out on tha town or somethin' right?"

"Yes."

Rogue smirked. "Wanda...we call that a date." Wanda hexed one of her pillows and had it fly at Rogue hitting her causing her to drop her book. "Hey!" Wanda stormed out of their room and while Rogue bent down to pick up her book there was only one thought on her mind. 'That girl must have it bad for him.' She thought and a smirk was on her face. She wondered if she could have any more fun with this, but decided to wait for awhile for her to calm down before she did, maybe later tonight.

Outside of the mansion Logan was taking time out to light up one of his cigars. It had been a long time since his last smoke with everything that was going on. Plus watching over all the kids plus his own was demanding. Although he was glad that Sarah was starting to get along with the others and that she was starting to learn some control.

Although he kept thinking of that night he found her in the rain and had to carry her to her room and then watched her sleep. She had started to moan slightly and toss and turned that night and he had gone over and stroked her head and silently made any reassurances he could to try and calm her down. It had worked and when he saw her face that night calm and peaceful with a hint of a smile he felt something inside himself he never knew existed. 'I'm getting soft.' He thought to himself. There was a time in his life where he wouldn't have cared but then being here has changed him.

"Looking for some time alone?" Came Ororo's voice from behind him. He looked and saw her in an outdoor dress with spaghetti straps on walking gracefully over to him.

"Yeah, so who's looking after the kids?"

"Warren, Scott and Jean are watching over them for the moment." She said looking out over to the forest. She coughed a little from the smoke of his cigar but said nothing, since Logan could still smoke those things as long as he wasn't around the children or inside. Logan noticed this but since it was nearly done he put it out for her.

Ororo smiled slightly at that. "So what's on your mind?"

Logan sighed. "In short...fatherhood I guess. God I can't believe I just said that, by the way thanks for yesterday with Sarah. I don't think I could have gone through with that."

Ororo nearly laughed. "It wasn't a problem. You should have seen her expression when I explained it, she didn't even know exactly why she was getting her period when it started a few months ago, she thought her healing factor wasn't working and was thinking of asking Beast what was wrong with her?"

Logan shook his head. "I'm glad you did that, now I _know_ I wouldn't have been able to handle that."

"You're a great parent with her Logan." She assured him touching his arm.

Logan looked at her and smiled and placed a hand on hers. "You've done pretty well with she-elf too." He told her refereeing to Blink. "I think that girl is starting to think of ya as her mother now then just a guardian."

"Truth be told Logan...I'm thinking of her more as a daughter...I'm actually thinking of introducing her to my sister and brother in-law too." She told him. "Ever since we came to an understanding with Evan I told her a lot about her and she wants to meet her. Plus she told me she had some news for me to hear too but wanted to tell me in person."

"Well that sounds like great news then." He said to her and looked at her too. After all the years he'd known her she was one of the few people he trusted and even admired how she was so in control and calm. There was a moment of silence as they looked at each other but then it was broken when a portal showed up and Blink popped out.

She saw them together like that and was surprised by seeing those two almost arm in arm. "Oops sorry I was looking for Gale and Dani. We were going to go out today."

"It's alright she-elf, I was going to check up and see if Warren had been eaten alive yet." Logan said and walked past. When he left Blink looked at Ororo and was wondering something.

"Ororo...can I ask you something?" Blink asked her.

"Of course dear, what is it?"

"Well...is there anything going on with you and Mr. Logan? I mean it would be so cool if there was so I don't got a problem with it, but you two seem kind of close." The pink skinned teleported asked the older woman.

Ororo blushed a little by the question. "Clarice! W-what makes you think that?"

Blink shrugged. "I don't know...I guess it was just silly then. Well I'll go and see if I can find the others." She told her and made another portal. 'But first I wonder if I can find Sarah and ask her if she thinks her dad has the hots for my mo...my guardian.' She though. It was strange how lately she had been trying not to call Ororo 'mom' since she wasn't sure if Ororo would be comfortable for it.

Blink still wondered about her real parents, but lately she had been coming to terms with the fact she would never see them again, and Ororo was proving more of a mother then her real one had.

**THE NEXT DAY**

For the entire day Wanda had felt on edge. She kept telling herself that this wasn't anything to get worked up about but she still felt anxious. She decided to wear dark leather jeans and a matching black T-shirt with a red belt.

It was near ten when the doorbell rang. Dani was the closest to the door and opened it and was surprised to see Simon there in dark blue jeans, a very stylish black buttoned up shirt also and had on his dark shades. "Hey...Dani right? Is Wanda in?"

"Uh sure I'll get her." She said to him.

Simon stepped in. "Thanks, oh and Shatterstar wanted me to pass on a message, he wanted to tell you yes. Now I tried to get him to spill but what exactly was it yes too?" Simon asked with a grin.

Dani blushed a little. "I-it's not what you're thinking. He just said he was a better archer and I asked him if he was up to a competition but before we could get started you guys had to leave. So I asked him did he think we could get that match in some time and he said he'd think about it."

"Oh." Simon said slightly disappointed in what it was about. "Too bad. You know he's single right?"

Dani smiled. "I think I'll go and get Wanda, wait here." She walked off and after asking around she found Wanda with a few of the others in the Rec. Room. She was on the couch watching Jaime and Paige playing a game together against Bobby and Jubilee.

"Hey Wanda." Dani said sweetly drawing out the sentence. "Simon is here for you."

Wanda stood up and went straight to the front door. The four other teens had stopped their game looking at Dani. "What was that?" Bobby asked. "Is Wanda going out on an actual date?" He said not believing what he had heard.

Dani nodded. "Oh yeah Simon was all dressed up for it."

"So that's why Wanda was wearing her better clothing." Jubilee said more to herself. "Oh we got to ask for details when she gets back."

Suddenly there was an explosion sound on the TV and both Jubilee and Bobby looked to see that Jamie and Paige had gone back to playing. "Hey! You little cheaters!" Bobby told them but both of the youngest members of the New Mutants just stuck their tongues out at him. "Oh it's on now, right Jubes?"

"You know it." Jubilee said concentrating on the game.

Wanda was now near the front door and when she saw Simon and that smile he flashed at her she felt herself smile slightly back at him. "You ready to go?" He asked her, she just nodded and walked outside. She stopped in her tracks seeing the red convertible parted out front. Simon walked up next to her. "What can I say working for the government has its benefits. Like a platinum card for things like rental cars."

They drove around Bayville as Simon asked her if there were any place she liked to go but Wanda wasn't much for the outside world. In fact she rarely left the mansion to go somewhere and even with the Brotherhood she also rarely left the house. Mainly it was because she was unsure of the outside world.

So Simon improvised and they ended up at a small café they came across. They seated themselves outside enjoying the nice weather. "So...tell me about yourself Wanda."

She shrugged while taking a sip of a drink she had ordered. "Not much to tell, when I was a kid I was sent to an asylum until I was eighteen, taken out by Mystique to be used against the X-Men, tried to kill my father numerous times, he messed with my mind, I got better and joined the X-Men."

Simon frowned at that. "Sounds like a tough life." Wanda just nodded. "But you had to have a good life before the asylum right? Didn't you have a childhood?"

Wanda thought about it. It was so long ago it seemed like a dream. "Well...Magneto was gone a lot...but Pietro and me...we did have some good times."

"Why don't you tell me about them?" Simon asked her. "Sometimes it's best to remember the good times in life so you know the world isn't all bad." She hadn't thought about those carefree days in years. She wasn't sure how much she remembered but she told him what she could. And he listened to her stories and laughed at the good times and even Wanda smiled a few times remembering the few years in which her life wasn't like it was now. Back then she had been an innocent girl, happy and full of life. Wanda wished she could feel like that again and wondered if it was possible.

Later Simon took her around the town and they had lunch at a restaurant. It was nice and they talked and Simon told her a few stories about some of the things in X-Force. Like Morph's unending quest to hit on every girl on base, a few of the pranks pulled on a few of the others and such and Wanda shared her own stories about the X-Men and a few from the Brotherhood.

After that they saw a movie together a horror movie that Wanda wanted to see. Now she wasn't easy to scare and either was Simon so they watched it without jumping into each other's arms at the scary parts although both at a few points wanted to do that just as an excuse.

They were coming out of the multiplex. "I still can't believe that guy is still in films." Simon said to her.

"Who?" Wanda asked him.

Simon sighed. "You know the main character?" Wanda nodded. "Well the guy is a jerk. I worked with him a few years ago."

"How so?"

"You don't want to know." Simon said seriously.

"Look I can handle what ever it is alright." She told him sternly and the look on her face told him so.

"Well the guy's got a few problems. One of them is drinking. I did this movie with him once and he showed up a lot of the time either drunk or hung over. Then there was the fact he was abusive to the worker crews. He'd demand all these outrageous things and threw a fit when he didn't get them. He also took advantage of a few of the girls that went to his trailer." He said darkly. "The only reason that guy is still in pictures is because he fills seats." He told her with a little bitterness.

"I was a serious actor before I had to give it up and guys like that give the industry a bad name and reputation. Now not everyone is like that, but there are a few bad apples there."

"Man I never knew Hollywood had such a dark side." Wanda admitted.

"Trust me there's a side no one on the outside sees." Simon told her. They went to a bookstore that Wanda wanted to check out. Normally Simon wasn't a book person but he showed an interest in what she liked. She didn't find anything that she was looking for so they left and when on.

When they got back to the mansion Simon walked her up to the front door. "Well I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did."

Wanda thought about it, she did actually had a good time with him. "Yeah...I did, thanks for this."

Simon looked a little nervous something he wasn't used to around other women but he knew from the moment he had first seen her that she was not like most women. "So...can we do this again sometime?"

Looked at him seeing he was serious and she felt flattered that he wanted to see her again. "Sure." She told him. Simon smiled broadly at her.

"Then it's a date then." He told her.

"D-date?" Wanda said blushing a little.

"Well yeah. Look Wanda I'll be honest...I find you a fascinating, refreshing and a beautiful woman. The more time I spend with you the more I want to spend time with you. Besides I thought this was a date...wasn't it?"

Wanda was speechless. She never thought anyone like him would ever be interested in her. Simon walked up close to her mere inches from her face a small kind smile on his face. "Maybe this will help you decide." He said softly and gently placed a hand on her cheek and kissed her softly on the lips. Wanda didn't know what was happening. She felt light headed and her knees felt week and she felt like melting right there.

She responded to the kiss since she wasn't sure exactly how, she had never really kissed anyone, well once but she didn't count that time. She kissed back and when Simon pulled away slowly there was a part of her that didn't want it to end. "So...is it a date?"

"S-sure." She said blushing from the kiss. She felt her heart racing and she could feel the heat in her cheeks. Simon smiled at her and took her hand and kissed it.

"Well I look forward to that, I'll call you okay?"

"Okay...I...I'll look forward to it." She said and she watched him leave. She opened the door and closed it behind her. When it was closed she leaned against it and sighed. It was her first real kissed and it was better then she ever thought.

And she smiled then, and for the first time in so long that she didn't remember when she felt truly happy with her life. It was strange, being with Simon not only seemed to make the pain and sorrow in her life seem to disappear but she felt joy from it too.

She walked off to her room feeling light on her feet and with a smiled on her face. The few that saw her either swore that they didn't see a happy Wanda or were very afraid of her smiling, since that wasn't normally a good thing for someone.

But she didn't care, all she wanted to do was get on her bed and maybe write down in her journal about this day. Because this was a day she never wanted to forget.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 27: PUPPY LOVE**

Yep a Paige/Jamie chapter is up next with maybe a few other relationships in it too, any requests to those you might want to see?


	27. Puppy Love

Ranndie Mazda: Thanks, and I was thinking I needed more JOTT, maybe a little Ororo/Logan set up or something in this or later on.

Red Witch: Laurie? They chose that as her name? Well I'm keeping mine too and a name would have nade things so much easier.

celtcath74: Waffy? I'm not sure what that means.

LadyDeathStrike1: I'll get to her eventually, not in this fic I want her to get used to real life before that.

Xmenfan: Technically they never said those powers in the show were from her evolving so when I do that I'm going with the Phoenix Force way of the comics. I'm glad you like the Wanda/Simon thing. Later on will be an Annie/Alex/Lorna chapter. As for the school thing, I'm going to have them try to go to regular school, it's just that with the limited numbers of adults it would be a strain to school them like that. I'll think about that though.

Sparky Genocide: Another disaster? The only thing I could think of was Sam being over protective of his little sister. And I'm sorry to hear that you're not doing shout outs anymore. Did you get tired of it?

The Uncanny R-Man: Sorry August and the others with Dr. Strange are not in the main story. I'll see if I can fit some of that in with those three.

TheLegendaryManHimself: Annie/Alex/Lorna will be the next chapter. I tried to think of someone for Roberto so I just picked her. Not sure if it would last but it might be fun. I think I needed to put some Rahne/Joseph thing in this.

Ldypebsaby: Well Blink and Sarah will have a little talk together and I'm just glad I thought of someone to hook her up with, I'm actually surprised no one ever thought of using comic canon of who to pair Wanda up with before.

Thanks to: slickboy444, Ruby631, X00001, ViciousAssassin, DemonRogue13

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 27: PUPPY LOVE**

Jamie was in his room thinking. He was laying on his bed looking up at the ceiling. He wasn't' sure when but lately and especially after that sleep over he had been thinking a lot of Paige lately. And he meant a lot.

He also was finding excuses to be either around her whenever he could. He enjoyed her company she was great actually. He remembered how when they first met in that cell with the others at that Acolyte base and how she and him had to share that bed to sleep in. Thinking back on it, that was the one thing he actually missed.

He missed just being next to her. At first he was uncomfortable and they slept back to back, he was never that close to a girl for so long but deep down it felt nice too. Lately he also noticed a few other things, like how he couldn't' take his eyes off her in a bathing suit. He was blushing so bad the first time he saw her he thought he was going to have a nose bleed.

Luckily he got used to it, and in their training together under Vincent he was getting a little distracted at times. He also thought she looked cute with her hair in a ponytail like that while training, but he liked how she always had it free and flowing. Then there was that kiss.

He knew she did it on a dare most likely...but to him it was great.

He sighed to himself. He liked her and more then just the friends way but he wasn't sure how to go about this. He was never in a relationship before and he needed help. He sat up in bed suddenly. That was it, that was the answer.

He ran out of his room and made a few copies of himself and started his search when they regrouped in his room he reabsorbed them. It would safe time to talk to everyone since he now knew what they had known. Okay first he needed the oldest ones first since they would have the best knowledge. He couldn't find Scott so he was out, Bobby wasn't an option since he might not know what he was talking about or the other New mutants especially Sam. He wasn't sure if talking to Paige's older brother about her was a good idea or not.

That left only Kurt and Vince and they were together outside with Kitty and Amara. They were talking about something, his clone wasn't listening in just looking for them. So he walked off to them and saw they were still talking and decided to wait.

After they had finished he only had a few seconds to ask them before they took off. He ran to them. "Vince, Kurt can I talk to you guys?"

"Hey J, what do you need?" Vince asked him using the nickname he had started to call him.

He moved closer to make sure Kitty and Amara wouldn't hear and whispered to both of them. "I need some advice from you two...about girls." He said slightly blushing at the end.

Vince and Kurt shared a look and smiled. "Sure thing, Kurt?" Without another word Kurt teleported them all to his room.

"So vhat do you need to ask?" Kurt started off.

"Well...how do you know a girl likes you?" Jamie asked them both.

"If we're talking about Paige I think you're safe." Vince said with a smile. "I mean I've seen the way see looks at you, and glances at you whenever you're not looking."

"Really?" Jamie asked him his face lighting up.

"Ja , I noticed zat too. It's a good sigh man." Kurt encouraged him. "Plus Amanda told me she zinks zat Paige likes you, and confirmation from the female persuasion is alvays good."

"So...what do I do now?" Jamie asked them. "I mean how do I...well...ask her out? And what do I do, I've never been on a date." He was getting a little more worried now.

"Easy man." Vince said placing a hand on his shoulder. "Just breath. Now...why not try to tell her you like her and go from there."

"Yeah...but how?"

"Vhy not ask her to go for a valk in ze woods? Tell her zhere." Kurt offered him.

"Why?"

"Vell one it's romantic and girls like zat, and secondly you might vant some privacy too."

"Good point." Vince said. "I mean it's hard enough to find a nice quiet area in this mansion to be alone with your girl." He noticed the look Kurt was giving him. "Oh man not this again, Kurt if you're thinking what I think you're thinking we're NOT going that far. I mean first of all we both got roommates at the moment so you don't have to worry."

"Ja, but zat could change."

"Hey I'm not the one with a room all to myself. Should we be worried about what you and Amanda do _alone_ in there?" Vince said back to him.

"V-vhat? V-Ve don't do anyzing like zat!"

"Ahem!" Jamie said trying to get their attention. "Could we please get back to me?"

"Sorry." Both of the older boys said.

**AT THE DOCK**

The mansion overlooked a large lake that was connected to a river that led out to the Atlantic Ocean. At the bottom of the cliff overlooking the water was a small dock where they sometimes did water training. It was also a very unused place since walking down all the way down the cliff's path took some time. But it was one of the few places where you could be alone at times, like now.

Jean and Scott where the only ones there at the moment. They had gone for a swim in the water and were now on the wooden deck sitting down on their blankets as Scott was easing the tension out of Jean's shoulders. "You really are stressed today aren't you?"

"I just needed to get away from it all." She said to him. "All those thoughts were giving me a headache." She had been having one of her less then perfect control days. Sometimes it was a strain to keep the thoughts of others from overwhelming her. Scott had seen how she was doing and had stolen her away for some quiet time.

She was grateful for this. Ever since she had known him Scott had always been there for her and she was glad for it. "Mmmm, that feels nice." She said as his hands got rid of a few knots in her shoulders. When he finished she leaned back into him and he held her. "Have I told you how much I love you lately?" She asked him.

"Yes, this morning but I wouldn't mind hearing it again." He said smiling.

She closed her eyes as he rested her head against him. "Well I do love you." She said with a smile. It was peaceful here, and it was a perfect moment. Scott was reveling in this moment as well as he held her close to him.

After a few minutes Jean opened her eyes. "You know Scott I talked to my parents and they were a little disappointed that I wasn't going to collage somewhere nearer to them."

"You didn't have to stay here you know Jean." Scott told her. "You got accepted to a better collage then the one nearest here."

"I know...but I would be miserable if you weren't there." She turned to face him and when she saw he was going to object she placed two of her fingers to his lips. "Scott...I know you want only what's best for me, it's one of the reasons I love you. But I couldn't just leave here. First off I would be too easy a target alone for some maniac, I also just can't leave you and the other adults to look after everyone else. I mean it's hard enough even with Warren now pitching in. Plus...you are my life Scott Summers."

"Jean." Scott said softly. "I know...I would be miserable without you too. Actually there's something I wanted to give you." Jean looked confused and saw Scott reached under a spare blanket. She didn't understand why he brought it, but it looked like it was because he had hidden something there. He pulled out a small box and Jean's breath was caught in her throat.

He opened up the box and Jean saw a ring with a red gem in the center. "Oh Scott." She whispered.

"I know we're not even twenty yet, but Jean I can't imagine my life without you." He said with a quiet passion in his voice. "I know neither one of is ready yet, but I wanted to show you how much you mean to me." He pulled on a silver chain and Jean saw that the ring was attached to it. "I want you to have this." He said as he put the ring around her neck.

"For when we're ready...I want to ask you to marry me...but only when the time is right. At the moment...let's just say this is a promise that I will always be with you, that I'll always be a part of your life and that I'll always love you Jean."

Jean had tears falling from her face. She couldn't believe Scott was doing this, this was the most romantic thing he had ever, that anyone had ever done for her. "Oh god Scott. This is...this is just...I love you!" She cried out and kissed him with all her passion. Soon she had him on his back on the ground with her on top, the ring and the chain was a cool feeling on their bodies but they didn't care.

As they broke the kiss Jean did a quick scan around the area with her mind. "Scott...we're alone here." She said with a certain tone in her voice Scott knew very well what she had planned as he saw the passion in her eyes.

"You sure?"

In answer to that she got sat up smiling and unfasten her bikini top and let it fall down before she laid down back on top of him kissing him deeply and his hands started to caress her back.

**LIVING ROOM OF THE MANSION**

Jamie was just outside the living room, he was trying to work up the nerve to ask Paige to go for a walk. She was hanging out with Blink and Sarah and he wasn't sure if he could ask her if they were in the room. 'Well you got to do it sometime.' He thought to himself so he took a breath and walked into the room.

Paige was the first to see him. "Hey Jamie, what's up?"

Given the situation Jamie was of course nervous. "W-well I-I was wondering, if you know, wanted to take a walk with me through the woods?"

Paige smiled as a little blush formed. "Sure, ah'd like that. If you two don't mind?" She asked Blink and Sarah.

"Oh sure, go ahead." Blink encouraged her smiling at the two of them, Sarah just shrugged. As the two youngest members walked off Blink now had the perfect moment to ask Sarah something. "Hey Sarah? Have you noticed something with your dad and Ororo?"

Sarah looked at Blink a little confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well for starters you got a great senses like Logan, so I was wondering if you noticed if there was anything between the two of them?"

"I'm still not following you." Sarah said plainly.

Blink sighed. "Okay I think Logan and Ororo like each other."

"Of course they do, they're friends aren't they?"

"No I mean they like each other more then just friends...I think." Sarah looked at Blink and she explained how she had found the two of them. "I'm just not sure how close they are, or how close they want to be."

Sarah thought about it. "I don't know but I think I can find out." She got up and left leaving Blink wondering what she was going to do.

**THE WOODS**

Paige always liked the outdoors and the forest behind the mansion was not only large but a nice place to just go for a walk too, they walked on and she had to admit it was nice out here, it was quiet and the place was quite nice too. They mostly walked in silence and Paige could tell he was nervous so she looped her arm in his without warning and she could see the blush on his face and she smiled at it.

'Jamie was a really nice and sweet guy.' She thought. 'I bet he asked me out here for a reason but he's working up the nerve.' It was kind of nice to think that he was so worked up about her, normally all the boys back home weren't like Jamie.

They came to a log and Jamie asked if they could sit down. As they sat down on it Jamie was trying not to panic but his hands were sweaty and he could feel his heart racing and no matter what he tried he couldn't calm himself. He took a deep breath and knew he had to try.

"Paige...there's...well..." Jamie tried but couldn't get the words out. 'Damn it just DO it already!' He said to himself. "I like you...I mean...I really like, like you." There he had said it, it wasn't pretty or as nice as he wanted it to be but at least he managed to get it out.

Paige smiled and blushed a little. She remembered the first time she had met him. He was so nice and even brave in that kind of situation. Plus he was great to hang out with, they enjoyed playing and hanging out a lot since she came here. Plus that day at the sleepover when they dared her to kiss him...well it was her firs kiss and she liked it. "AH like you too Jamie." She said. She was never like this around anyone before, she didn't consider herself 'girly' like some of her sisters, or a few of the girls around here that she could name.

But there was just something about Jamie and this moment that had her blushing and feeling slightly giddy inside. "Y-you do?" Jamie said excitedly. "You really like me?"

"Ah just said that." She said slightly laughing a little.

"You know...I...I really liked that kiss you gave me...you...you think we could do that again sometime?" Jamie nervously and embarrassingly asked her. Paige smiled sweetly at him and leaned in close and she gently brushed her lips against his.

It was a light one but for the young teens it was more then enough for them at the moment. "Does that answer your question?"

Jamie nodded with a huge goofy smile on his face. "You want to go get some ice cream? I'm paying."

Paige nodded. "Ah'd like that." They got up and holding hands started to walk out of the woods and both teens smiling at each other. 'Ah can't wait to tell my sisters that ah got a boyfriend now and they don't.' Paige thought. Some of her sister had said that she would never could get a boy interested in her, boy would she show them, she bet her mama would just love it too, she just hoped Sam behaved himself. 'I wonder if I can get some advice from Tabitha?' She thought to herself. She and Tabitha had gotten close and she was like the older sister she always wanted.

Jamie was glad about this and made a note to thank Vince and Kurt for their help.

**THE GARAGE**

Logan was working under his bike for a little maintenance work. He was in an old pair of jean and a black Harley Davison T-Shit that he liked to use when he was working in the garage on either his bike or one of the other vehicles. Even through all the gas, oil and grease he could smell her coming to him a few seconds before she walked into the garage. "Something I can help you with Sarah?" He could see her feet from where he was on the ground.

"Yes...do you have romantic feelings for Ororo?" She asked him. Then there was a clang sound as Logan hit his head against the bike and pulled himself from under it rubbing his head.

"Where did you get an idea like that?" He asked her.

"So it's not true then?"

"Not that it's any of your business kid but no. Ro and I ain't involved." Logan said sternly to her.

She nodded at him. "Alright then." She simply said and left Logan behind feeling a slight headache and very confused.

"Some days I just don't know what goes through that kid's head." He said to himself and went back to work. But he froze as he thought of what she asked him. Why did she ask that? Sure Ororo was a close friend, one of the few people that was close to him. But romantic feelings? That wasn't possible...was it? Okay so maybe the odd dream or fantasy but then again she was a beautiful woman, and he could see why she was once worshiped as a goddess. But then again he was a guy and he couldn't remember the last woman he was with.

Well actually a few years back he had this fling but that was just it and that was when he was on the road a few months before he got back to the Institute a couple of years back. Had it been THAT long? He shook his head. He wasn't the relationship type.

As he started to work on his bike he slowed down thinking on things and decided to put it aside. He finished up and started up the bike. He did his best thinking on the road so he'd just hit the highway for an hour or so.

Storm and him? Was something like that possible? And where did she get an idea like that? Well he'd think on that, besides it's not like a classy woman like Ororo would be interested in a guy like him, so it wasn't an option, was it?

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 28: EVEN MORE RELATIONSHIPS**

What can I say I'm in a fluff mood at the moment.


	28. Even More Relationships

Slickboy444: Yeah I knew you would love that JOTT scene in there, I figured I needed to put some of them in this story. Actually I plan on making a huge Lorna/Alex/Annie thing that will go on for a while, let's just say there will be lots of ups and downs. I'll work in some of that other stuff later on.

Winblades: Actually Logan and Ororo have been an item, just in alternate timelines and stuff like that, for now, there's a little hint of it at the moment in one of the x-books. Besides who else is Ororo going to end up with there is Beast although a nice pairing (especially in Ultimate) I got someone else planned for him.

Red Witch: Yeah I heard about that, wish I had a comic shop where I lived.

ViciousAssassin: No I don't know where to get those issues, X23 will get into a relationship in another story, the Jamie/Paige and what Sam thinks of it will start off in this chapter, and I'll keep writing the series as long as people like it and I can think of things to write.

Ruby631: Well first off I'm a hopeless romantic and I'm just in that mood. As for the new girlfriend thing, I wish but unfortunately no.

Xmenfan: First off everything you said about Jean & Scott...not going to happen...ever so don't bother trying to persuade me from otherwise. Let me just say Thor and Jean, would never happen and would never work out, and is the (no offence just personal opinion) is the dumbest thing I ever heard of. Did you read the comics lately? Lorna has gone all psycho, didn't she threaten Annie's life? As for Simon's age that I already said it when X-Force was introduced. The jet and birthday will be later. Scott isn't insecure about Jean's powers he just worries it might hurt her in the long run, since she's had problems before, like when they went nuts and she trashed the mansion. If you remember in that episode he wasn't anything like you described, I think you need to take a new look on Scott.

The Uncanny R-Man: Yeah I just had to use that gag at least once, maybe one day someone will walk in on them just for something fun to do.

TheLegendaryManHimself: Glad you liked it, and as for Jean and Scott, like I've said all that repression has to be let out somewhere. Yeah Sarah isn't exactly subtle is she but that's why I like writing her.

Ldypebsaby: Not yet for the Logan/Ororo thing, I'm just laying the ground work for now.

mattb3671: Thanks, and I'm glad I inspired you to write too.

Thanks to: X00001, Ranndie Mazda, LadyDeathStrike1, celtcath74, Aaron, Sparky Genocide, DemonRogue13

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 28: EVEN MORE RELATIONSHIPS**

It was another day for Alex, well one that he was getting used to. The morning Danger Room sessions were something he would have to get used to but Scott said after a couple of more weeks he'd be used to it by then.

So far he had been put in with the New Mutants and was working on a new costume. He had this all black version that Forge was helping him with to help contain and manipulate his powers, Forge was also working on a suit for Jamie too but that still had problems. He also noticed that Amanda, Dani and Blink had gotten around to their new uniforms too. Amanda wore an all black uniform but with a yellow part in the middle with matching boots and gloves and a belt with an X in the center.

Blink was another matter. She seemed a little shy about her suit but apparently it was based on an alternate version of her had worn only with a few details. It looked like a sleeveless battle dress with long slits on the side showing off her legs. She wore black shorts under it that went down her thigh and her arms had on matching green glove like things that went up past her elbows. It really showed of her figure and was a little embarrassed seeing a few of the guys stealing a few looks.

Dani also seemed to have made a new one. She now sported a red headband with a black X on it. Her top was all red with no sleeves and her arms held red and black gloves one with a modified armband to protect her arm when she used her arrows. Those were in a quiver on her back and Forge had made a special collapsible bow for her to use that was strapped to her thigh. She also wore red boots that were higher up on her legs then normal and black pants too. She to wore an X-belt as people were starting to call them.

Now however Alex was at the mall looking around the place. He saw a sports shop and decided to walk in. It had decent equipment and he wandered over to a stack of surfboards. Sure there wasn't much surfing in this place but he liked to look anyway.

"Can I help you?" Came a female voice

"Nah, just looking." Alex said and turned around and was surprised to see the girl he had meet not too long ago named Annie Ghazikhanian. She had her long black hair in a ponytail and was wearing a blue T-shirt with the store's logo on it. "Hey Annie, I didn't know you worked here?"

Annie was pleased to meet the blond boy she had meet once before. He seemed nice and she personally thought he was really cute. "Y-yeah, I just started. A girl's got to earn a living. You into surfing?" She asked him while hoping he didn't know how nervous she was.

"Yeah, but there's not as much surfing here as there was when I was living in Hawaii." Alex admitted, he still missed his old home and his foster parents but after what had happened when it got out he was a mutant he knew he his life there wouldn't have been the same anyway.

"You lived in Hawaii?!" Annie was shocked at this, but it did explain his tan. "Why did you leave?"

Alex shrugged not wanting to get into the whole I was outed as a mutant and had to go away thing. "I decided I wanted to live with my brother in Bayville."

"Oh, your parents are divorced?"

Alex face dropped. "No...they uh...they died when I was a kid in a plane crash. Me and Scott were the only survivors and we each thought the other was dead until a couple of years ago."

"Wow...that's just...wow." Annie was at a loss for words. She couldn't even imagine what that had to be like. "I'm sorry about your parents, that...that had to be rough." She said in a caring manner and gently touched his arm.

"Thanks...yeah it was...it still hurts but not as back as it used to be." Then he got a happier look on his face. "But at least I got my brother back now."

"Well that is great news." Annie told him then she looked a little uncomfortable as she was trying to work up the nerve for something. "You know...I...well...I don't really know anyone in this town so...and if you're not doing anything...do you...I don't know, want to go out some time?" She hoped she wasn't blushing, God she hated it when she did that, she also hoped that he didn't think she was a complete idiot with the way she was asking.

Alex smiled as he thought she looked really cute when she blushed. "Yeah, I'd like that. You want to go see a movie sometime?"

Annie was overjoyed. "I'd love to." She said happily she gave Alex her number and he gave her his. She seemed really nice and as he left the store and wondered how things would go on from here.

**XAVIER'S**

Sam and Tabitha were walking to the living room. Tabitha wanted to watch this movie she got with Sam, he really didn't care what the movie was since he and Tabitha rarely ever actually watched the movie. He had to admit that ever since he started to date Tabitha it was the greatest time in his life. She wasn't like most girls in fact she was pretty much unique and it was one of the things he loved about this girl.

She was so free spirited and never seemed to let anyone tell her to be something she wasn't. He walked into the living room not prepared to see the scene in front of him. It was Jamie and Paige sitting next to each other in a kiss. It was the kind he and Tabitha used it was more of a sweeter innocent nature but it was still a boy kissing his sister.

"What is goin' on!" He demanded and both of the young teens pulled away.

"Sam!" Paige said in protest. "We're not doin' anything wrong! Besides he's my boyfriend."

"Since when?" He shouted.

Tabitha however was more excited." That is so cool, you're first boyfriend, nice going girl. You two just look so cute together too."

"Tabitha!" Sam said not believing this.

She touched his arm lightly. "Sam...face it, you're sister is growing up. Besides it's Jamie you know he's a good kid."

Sam thought about it and looked at Jamie. He had known the kid for a couple of years now and he wasn't that bad a kid actually. "Jamie...ah want a word with you." He walked out the room and Jamie couldn't help but gulp from nervousness. He gave Paige one last look and figured whatever was going to happen would be worth it.

Jamie sighed and walked out of the room. Tabitha meanwhile sat down next to Paige and put an arm around her. "Well girl friend it's time for you initiation into the sacred order of the girlfriend. Time to teach you the few basics like how to control your guy, wind arguments and how to make them putty in your hands."

Sam waited for Jamie to get over to him. He knew Paige was a tough girl and could take care of herself but he was still her big brother and there were a few things he had to do. When Jamie got to him he took a breath. "Okay Jamie...I can handle you dating my sister...but if you ever hurt her, no matter what you're learning under Vincent won't stop me from kicking your butt and that of your clones, got it?"

Jamie shook his head. "Good, just promise me you'll treat her right okay?"

"Of course." Jamie said. "Sam I like her too much to ever do anything to hurt her, besides...she hits harder then some of the boys here."

Sam scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah...good point."

**X-FORCE HQ – A DAY LATER**

The headquarters for X-Force the elite team of mutants under SHIELD was a huge complex in a valley stationed in the middle of nowhere surrounded by mountains. It was a nice place actually and even though there was only one way in or out it was also heavily secured. The facility pretty much had everything you would expect from a top-secret state of the art facility.

There were SHIELD agents and solders stationed there at all times. Inside the personal Rec. room of the mutant teens were currently a number of them. There was Simon watching a film with Shatterstar and Strong Guy talking about how it was done and the inside dirt on a few of the actors he had known or heard of in his old acting days.

M was filing her nails casually sitting in one of the many comfortable chairs. Lorna was also there but more like lost in thought. She was trying to work up the courage to ask out Alex Summers. Ever since she first met him she liked him, and not in the friend kind of way either.

One of the doors opened and two twin girls stormed into the room. "Monet!" They both cried out.

She looked at her younger sisters and sighed. "What?"

"Morph's hitting on us again and won't leave us alone!" They both said at the same time. Monet a little frustrated that the shape shifter wouldn't leave her sisters alone got up and walked over to them.

"Well let's go have a little 'talk' with him shall we?" She said with a predatory grin on her face and both of the slightly younger girls grinned.

The other door opened and in staggered Wes 'Granite' Johnson, Domino, Clare 'Oracle' Smith, Theresa Rourke Cassidy AKA Siryn and Susan 'Aqua' Masters walked in.

Simon turned his head to them. "Fun mission?" He said looking at them.

"Oh yeah I just _loved_ it!" Susan said sarcastically trying to untangle her dirty blond hair. "Next time Fury wants us to check out a possible black arms market remind me to stay home."

"It wasn't that bad." Theresa the redheaded Irish girl said to them.

"That's only because you don't got a frikin' migraine from those sonic screams of yours!" Susan said angrily. "I mean did you have to aim so close to us, I still think Wes can't hear."

"WHAT?" Wes yelled out.

Susan sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'll go take him to the medical ward to get that seen to."

"WHAT?" He asked again as she took his arm and dragged him out of the room.

Domino saw Lorna looking a little preoccupied since she was normally the first to ask about the missions but right now she was staring into space and a nervous twitching of her leg. He sat down next to her hard and startled the green haired girl. "Hey...what's on your mind?"

"N-nothing." She replied and Domino got a smile on her face.

"Just ask him already." Domino said to the younger girl and the look on her face was priceless. "Oh come on the way you were gushing all over him at the mansion you think anyone wouldn't have noticed? Look how about some inside information?" She turned her head over to Simon. "Hey Simon! You're dating her sister. Does Alex like Lorna?"

"How would I know? She doesn't talk about that stuff."

"Then what good are you?" She turned back to Lorna. "Alright I'll just go call up Wanda and ask her then.

"No!" Lorna said. Having her to ask Wanda about this would be too embarrassing. "Look I'll go call him alright?" She went to the nearest phone and punched in her personal code. Since this was a top-secret facility all out going calls were recorded and stuff but they were told that no one would hear it but everyone wondered it that was true.

The others were listening in on her as best they could while not trying to be obvious. "Hello? This is Lorna is Alex in? Thanks." She waited until Alex was on the phone her nerves threatening to go overboard. "Hi Alex, this is Lorna...I was just calling to see...well...if you were free tomorrow?" Then everyone saw her face fall. "Oh...you got a date...I...I didn't know you had a girlfriend...wait? You don't...just a girl you met?" That was news she liked to hear, sure Alex and her weren't in a commitment or anything but if he wasn't serious about this girl then maybe she had a chance. "Well how about in a couple of days?" She really hoped so and she crossed her fingers. "Really? That's great! I'll...I'll call later okay? Alright bye then."

She hanged up the phone. 'Okay so there's competition...I can handle that.'

It was after the date Alex had with Annie while walking her home. He had to admit he really like this girl, but there was one more problem...he never told her he was a mutant yet and didn't know how she would take it. He knew she would find out sooner or later and this had been a good night...he just wished he knew how she was going to take it. 'Well better do it now and find out.' He thought.

"Hey Annie there's something I've been meaning to tell you." Alex said nervously. Annie hoped it wasn't going to say something like he was gay or anything. "I felt you should know...I'm a mutant."

Annie froze in place. Alex saw this and figured it wasn't a good sign. "I can see it bothers you...I'll understand if you don't want to see me again its-"

"Wait." Annie cut him off. "I don't really have anything against mutants...in fact you're the first one I've met...and...well you're not like how the news makes you out to be."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Yeah well you can't really trust them."

Annie smiled. "Yeah I can see that...but...well my father isn't exactly mutant friendly." She said slightly disappointed in them.

"He's not FOH is he? And what about your mom?"

"My mom...died a few years back...cancer." Annie sadly told him. "And I don't think he's FOH but he's not pro mutant either."

"So I take it he wouldn't be pleased with me huh?" Alex said his mood falling.

Annie sighed. "Yeah...petty much." She linked her arm with his and rested her head on his shoulder. "But I don't care...you're a nice guy. Do you want to do something tomorrow?"

'Oh no...Lorna.' Alex remembered he promised her a date for that day already. "Uh...about that...see...the thing is." He really wasn't looking forward to telling her about Lorna but he didn't have a choice.

**A WEEK LATER**

It had been one crazy week for Alex, so far it seemed Annie and Lorna were trying to out do each other in a rivalry for his affections, but the truth was Alex couldn't decide. There was the fact that Annie was a great girl that lived near him, but her family was anti-mutant. Then there was Lorna but that was a long distance relationship.

Alex sighed to himself sitting outside. "Trouble?" Alex looked up seeing Scott standing over him.

"I'm that obvious?" He said with a smirk.

Scott sat down next to his younger brother. "Let me guess. Girl trouble." Scott and everyone else in the mansion knew about his dating two different girls.

"Oh yeah. I mean how do I pick?" He asked his older brother. "They're both great girls but I'll hurt one of them if I choose and I don't want to hurt them." He ran a hand through his hair and sighed deeply. "They're both nice and kind, not to mention I do like them both but I don't know them well enough to know which I like more...so what do I do?"

Scott blinked a few times trying to figure that out. "Wow...that's tough. Well the only thing I can think of is you need to have a talk with the both of them...at the same time about this."

Alex groaned. "Oh man...that's not going to be pretty."

The next day he was sitting at one of the coffee shops in town nervously awaiting both girls, he had told them about this and they both had agreed to meet. He saw the door open Annie being the first to arrive, he figured it would have been her. Annie sat down at the table. "I guess I got here first?" She asked him.

"Yeah Lorna should be here soon." About five minutes later the green haired magnetic powered young teen of X-Force, in civilian clothing walked in. She looked at Annie and she looked right back, both girls sizing each other up.

'I wonder if this was such a good idea.' Alex thought to himself. "Well...you girls know why I called you here. I can't just keep seeing the both of you the entire time, so I guess I have to pick one of you but the thing is...I've been trying to figure out who, I mean I don't want to hurt either one of you but staying like this might be just as bad."

"Well I have to admit...this is kind of weird." Annie admitted. Lorna had to agree with that sentiment.

"Yeah I know." Alex said. "I mean Annie you're right here in Bayville, but your father doesn't like mutants, but Lorna..."

She sighed. "Long distance relationship and I made a commitment to X-Force so I can't just quit."

Alex nodded. "Yeah...that puts kind of a strain."

"I hate to admit it...but that is tough...but...what about a compromise?" Annie suggested. Both mutant teens looked at her. "Well...we've only known each other a week right? Well how about you hold off on your decision until you know more about us? I mean you could pick one of us but then find out you don't really like them."

"I hate to admit it...but she does make a point." Lorna said. "I mean ya I like you, but beyond that...I don't know how I feel...but this isn't a permanent thing." She said seriously.

Annie leaned over to him. "I agree you _will_ have to make a choice you can't have the both of us."

"Really?" Alex asked.

Both girls glared at him. "No!" They both said at the same time.

"Alright, alright I get it. I guess that's fair...for now." He said to them holding up his hands in defense.

"Well I hate to leave...but I got a briefing I got to be at soon." Lorna said. "So I'll call you later."

Annie got up too. "And I have to get to work too." Alex watched both girls leave, there was a part of him that was actually excited by the fact he had two girls in his life but there was a much larger part that he knew that this wasn't going to be easy.

"Maybe I should have stayed single." He muttered to himself.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 29: SAVAGE ADJUSTMENTS**

See how the other half are doing as we take a look on the old Brotherhood is doing in the Savage Land


	29. Savage Adjustments

Slickboy444: Well the old Lorna in the comics I agree but she's changed too much for them to work out now. But I plan on him picking one of them, although it won't be pretty and things won't end there either. Yeah I like the Sam & Tabitha too I just like putting them together.

Winblades: Yeah I wanted to go another way with the love triangle, that's not to say that both girls will like each other. And I thought about that but that would be too weird, funny, but weird.

Red Witch: Oh yeah time to see how they're doing. And I know, I just found out this thing called bit torrent and I'm actually downloading the comics I've missed...for the most part.

Xmenfan: Yeah you can bet that will happed later on with Wanda. As for Scott I thought he wasn't too bad in Evolution, I mean you can see he actually cares for Jean in the shows, okay the comics are iffy at times. Hellions will show up a little later but not in action though. As for Alex I just want to play with this for awhile, I got it planned out but you'll like it but also feel sorry for the other girl too.

The Uncanny R-Man: I guess so, you'd think they would enjoy it too, a lot of other guys would.

TheLegendaryManHimself: Yeah but how long they stay civil is another matter, and I like having Tabitha as a sue do big sister to Paige.

Ldypebsaby: Yep the Brotherhood is up next and you'll see how things are going on for them.

mattb3671: What can I say? I'm kind of open minded to a few things, but I really doubt those girls will go that far with Alex, it was mainly the same joke used in the new Spider-Man animated series.

Thanks to: ViciousAssassin, X0001, Sparky Genocide, LadyDeathStrike1, Ruby631, celtcath74, DemonRogue13

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 29: SAVAGE ADJUSTMENTS**

The Savage Land. Literally a lost world hidden in Antarctica, it is a jungle climate in sharp contrast to the icy wasteland outside the mountains that encircled the jungles. In this there are a lost tribes of humans living in primitive fashion but to them it was just a way of life. Living with many animals many of those long thought extinct. Mammoths, Sabertooth tigers even dinosaurs still roam the land.

But a new species has had their home in this forgotten world of the past. Mutants have come to the Savage Land. Now a city is being built to house the many mutants that have flocked to Magneto's call to arms against the unfairness of the human world. Many are those who have no home, no families that will take them in, some were considered pariahs by the human population, others criminals on the run or just others on the run for some other reasons.

They were all approached and given a chance to live in a new world, a mutant world. Many took up the offer, while others were recruited. Like Lance Alvers. He was leaning on the edge of a walkway over looking the jungles. He was in his normal clothing and even though him and the others were here for nearly a month it was still strange.

There was no humans giving him death glares, no hate, no one shouting at him. He had to admit this place was a mutant paradise. Except there was no Kitty here, that was the one thing he missed about his old life. "Yo, still mopping after pretty Kitty?" Lance with a very annoyed look on his face turned to see Toad next to him.

"You still mopping after Wanda?" Lance shot back at him. He saw Toad's face fall at that, he was just as depressed as he was about that.

"We should have told her, I mean then maybe she would have staid with us."

Lance shook his head. "After all that Magneto did to her...never."

Toad sighed. "Yeah...I guess."

"Well if it isn't the gloomy twosome." Lance rolled his eyes and turned to face Pietro. He was wearing his new Acolyte costume. Gone was the shoulder padding and it was a white and green suit with the two colors separated across his chest in the lightning bolt kind of jagged line.

"Hey man she was _your_ sister, don't tell me you're not sorry about it." Lance said to him slightly angry at the fact he seemed not to even to care his own sister left them.

"Hey she made her own choice besides you guys should be happy. Look at where we are!" He gestured to the city. "This is a true heaven for our kind, and Magneto trusts us enough now to bring us here. Besides if he hadn't we would be homeless out on the streets and I know you guys wouldn't want to go crawling to Xavier's."

"He's got a point yo." Toad said scratching his head. "No way would I go to the x-geeks, not after those stinking humans burned down our home."

Lance sighed. He knew about that, it wasn't like he would go to them either. Why couldn't Kitty have seen that Xavier's dream was nothing more then a stupid pipe dream that would never happen, humans would never accept them. "I'm going for a walk." He said and walked away from them. He walked on alone down the streets of the place, some buildings still under construction and others built.

There were homes and even shops. It was like a small growing country. He saw a group of people in an open courtyard gathered around something. He could hear cheering and when he got closer he could see Fred and a few other mutants were having an eating contest of all things. 'At least he's fitting in.' He thought to himself. He leaned against a wall watching his friend, of course he was winning, there was no doubt about that.

"Boy do you look down." He turned his head to a cute girl with short brown hair, about his age in dark jeans, with a chain a Punk rocker T-shirt and dark leather jacket, leaning against the same wall, he hadn't noticed her arrive.

"And who are you?" He asked with a slight tone.

She shrugged. "You can call me Static and you better be nice cause I'm an Acolyte like you are." That was new to Lance, but then again he wasn't up to speed on all the new members to the Acolytes. "Yeah well okay so I'm a new member but still a member. Me and a few other guys got recruited by this really pale guy with red eyes."

"Sinister." Lance said, he never liked the guy he always felt his skin crawl with him around.

Static shivered a little. "Yeah that's the guy, man he creeps me out." Lance could sympathize with her. "Well me and these two other guys ran into some...trouble. And things got a little intense too." Her happy expression changed as she looked down at her feet. Lance had heard a lot of stories from the other mutants too, a lot of them not too pretty.

"Yeah well...I take it you did what you had to do to survive." He said to her. He wasn't sure if what he thought had happened did happen and he could blame her. After what happened to their old home...he just wasn't sure what to think anymore.

She smiled a little before it faded away. "Thanks...I...I didn't like to...but I didn't want to die...but Random and Cortez...those two actually enjoyed it." She looked over at the blank look on his face. "Oh those were the two guys I was running away from the mob with. I think they're Acolytes now too. Random is this big macho type that loves to gunplay a little too much and Cortez. Well...the guy's an arrogant ass basically. You'll know him when you meet him. At least his sister is nicer."

"Sounds like you don't like your friends much." He said to her. She seemed to have a little dislike in her voice when talking about them.

She snorted at that. "I wouldn't call them 'friends' exactly. I mean we met up by accident and...they're just too different. I mean okay sure I wasn't from a decent home and this place it cool and everything...but I just don't know where I belong. I feel like my life's been turned upside down and I don't know which way is up anymore."

Lance looked at her closely and a small smile was on his face. "Hey join the club."

She smiled sweetly at him. "Hey you want to grab something to eat? I know this great place and we can talk, I tell you my lame story and you can tell me yours. How about it?"

Lance considered this. Okay sure she seemed interesting and nice, and cute too. But there was a nagging feeling like this would be wrong, but he knew it was just a part of him that refused to admit that he and Kitty weren't going to happen...ever. Especially not now, he looked at her and maybe it was time to move on, to see what else this world had to offer him. How long was he supposed to carry a torch for a girl and for a relationship that had been rocky from the start? "Sure, I could use the company." He told her. She smiled and linked her arm in his and walked off with him.

**SINISTER'S LAB**

Michael Morbius was at work in the lab as usual it wasn't that he didn't have better things to do, it was that he liked working in the lab under Sinister. When he was human he was an aspirating student ready to go into genetics, but ever since that day when he experimented with the neogenetic recombinator and changed himself into the pale, red eyes, bat nosed mutant vampire that he was today he found a new way of life.

At first he was plagued with a never-ending hunger, which he always had to satisfy by draining the blood of humans. He had killed many and it wasn't out of malice or hatred he just wanted to live to survive. Could you really blame him? Well he knew the authorities wouldn't see it that way so when he got the offer to join up he didn't say no.

It was the best decision he had ever made. Not only had Sinister modified him to survive on any type of mammalian blood now, he could also go out into the sun but also the hunger was manageable now. Plus Sinister knew more about genetics then anyone he ever heard of. To him the man was a genius and it was an honor to learn under him. In fact he was learning more under him then any university.

He looked over the lab. It was large and filled with all kinds of equipment and some of it was specially made and unique to the rest of the world. He saw the huge round door to the Seeker. It was their version of Cerebro that Sinister renamed it Seeker. It was a pure copy but also modified so Xavier couldn't detect it. It had special dampeners like the ones that covered the Savage Land that protected it from not only Cerebro but also satellites and other psychics.

Inside the Seeker room, which looked a lot like Cerebro only darker metal plating. There was a different type of control panels and a chair with a helmet on top that lowered to the person sitting in the chair. So far Sinister had used it to locate many new mutants for their growing numbers. He was also the only one at the moment that could use it too. Mesmero and Mastermind didn't have the power to use it, Psi-co was too unstable for it and Legion had the power but not the focus. Plus Sinister had put in a fail safe so that only his brain scan would work as well.

It was just another way to ensure his usefulness to Magneto as he and his own allies continued with the plan. Even though the Seeker was only at eighty percent operational it was still powerful enough to pick up almost any mutant on the world. And the computer systems were top notched thanks to the Savage Land Brotherhood member Brainchild. He was almost as smart as Forge but not quite but he was a valuable resource to them.

He turned off the device and pulled off the helmet. He found a few new candidates and had sent to the information to Magneto. It was a good day so far and walked out of the dark spherical room back into his lab. He saw his young protégé working as usual. He admired his dedication, and his mind. It was a sheer joy to meet such a young mind with so much potential that he could mold and shape.

"Ah Mr. Morbius I'm glad you're here. I have something I want to show you, it's a new project I'm working on that you may find interesting." He said with a grin, he knew that Morbius would find this fascinating.

"Of course sir." The young vampire mutant put down his work and walked over to a large door. There were a few rooms that Morbius wasn't allowed into...yet. But he knew over time he would be when he knew Sinister thought he was ready. When the door opened he saw a small laboratory and a few large tubes fill with a liquid and large enough for a person.

In fact in two of the tanks there were two people or something close to it. He looked closely at them, they looked kind of like a cross between giant fetuses and a person. "What are they?" He asked in wonderment.

Sinister smiled then, he was right he was fascinated. "In short...clones."

Morbius turned to him quickly a look of shock and admiration on his face. "You can make clones!?"

Sinister shrugged. "Well to be honest this is my _first_ attempt." He walked to a computer terminal and started to hey in instructions. "A while ago I got blood sampled of all of Xavier's students and a few others. Now most of them are just plain mutants but I found a few interesting things."

Images of Scott, Jean, Rogue, Wanda and Vincent showed up on the screen. "Now these five are very powerful mutants. Take Rogue for example, her powers are incredible, and I was informed when they went out of control she called on all the powers she had absorbed, okay the personalities also but that can be dealt with."

"Wanda's powers of altering probability could be invaluable to someone like me. Think about it, if it can be harnessed and controlled then I could alter or control the events of my experiments and they will always come out the way I want them too."

"Now here's a real interesting thing. Scott and Jean's DNA if combined through say mating, their offspring could be very potentially powerful."

"So is that what you're doing with these clones? Either they're spliced together DNA of them or they are them and you're going to mate them?" Morbius asked his new mentor.

"No...not yet at least." He said. "I am immortal and time means nothing to me, but I had want to see how these two tern out first. Then I may just try one or even both those ideas. In fact Jean and Scott aren't the only candidates." He smiled and keyed in more instructions and now only Vincent and Rogue were on the screen.

"Vincent here was part of my earlier work in Project Prodigy and he came out better then expected. Imagine his powers and Rogue's together. Imagine the kind of mutants they could give birth too?"

Morbius thought about it. With Vincent's already impressive power and Rogue's power absorption. "They're children could be incredible."

Sinister smiled proudly at him. "My thoughts exactly. Now back to the two over here." He walked back to the tanks. "This one is a female I wanted to try something with. The other is a male that I plan on improving over the original."

"Improving how?" Morbius asked getting excited about all of this.

"I knew you would ask that." He pulled up a design schematic on the computer. On it, it showed a human outline and then a body suit and finally armor attaching themselves to them. "I plan on a few cybernetic enhancements as well as attaching himself to the armor. He will be our ultimate soldier, out ultimate biological weapon.

"So...whose DNA did you use for him?" When he saw the information on screen on the name of the person Morbius smiled. "Oh...that's perfect, just perfect."

**SAVAGE LAND CITY**

Todd and Pietro had caught up with Fred. Apparently he had won his contest and they were just hanging out. "Hey Pietro do you think I could get a new uniform too?" Blob asked. "I mean I want something a bit better then just jeans and a jacket."

Pietro smiled. "Of course, why shouldn't you? I mean look at me, the chicks here dig me in this thing." Then he noticed a blond girl not to far away. She was in a full yellow body suit matching her gold hair leaning on a rail overlooking part of the city. "Guys...I got to go, I'll see ya later." And he zoomed off to the blond.

"Five bucks says she slaps him." Todd said to Fred.

"Make it ten and you got a deal." They shook on it and watched.

Pietro appeared right next to the girl. "Say what's a gorgeous girl like you doing in a place like this?" The girl looked at him a little strangely and then laughed.

"Oh god does that line actually work on girls? Well maybe the air heads but speedy you need a new way breaking the ice."

Pietro blinked a few times. "Oh and what would you say is better?"

"Oh I don't know, how about; how are you, my name is, whatever so what's yours?"

"Well I'm Pietro some of Magneto and part of the Acolytes." He bragged. "So who are you?"

"I'm leaving." She said and walked away but suddenly found Pietro right in front of her. She snorted a little but smiled. "Don't you give up?"

Pietro had a cocky smile on his face. "Not when I see something or in this case someone I like, besides...I love a challenge."

"Well then this should be interesting, I think you'll find my very challenging." She said and walked away.

"Can I at least get a name?" He asked her. "Or should I just call you the gorgeous blond?"

She stopped and turned. "The name is Crystal...and as for calling me? One step at a time speedy." Pietro grinned and walked off after her. He already liked this girl already, and he loved a challenge. Todd handed Fred his money.

"Aw man, this sucks." Todd muttered to himself. They walked on and found a familiar mutant with a small group. There was one guy all in white that they couldn't see the face which was hidden under the hood, a grayish skinned girl with elf like ears with a lot of piercings in a green dress with a snort skirt of about seventeen years of age. Another girl in a red body suit with the arms and shoulders exposed with tattoos with dark hair with pigtails about the same age. Then a frog looking guy in a loincloth.

But the mutant they were familiar with was a giant pterodactyl looking mutant that was all green also in a loincloth. He was Sauron leader of the Savage Land Brotherhood. When they first got here they were shown around and introduced to him. Apparently his group was responsible for the safety of the Savage Land.

"Yo Sauron! What up yo?" Todd said hopping over to them. Then he looked at the frog guy. "Man and I thought I was the only amphibian mutant. What up bro? I'm Todd but also called Toad."

"I am Amphibius. It is nice to meet someone like myself, well...not completely at least." The green-scaled mutant said.

"Hey man I hear ya. Hey are there any good places for bugs, cause I've been dying to find a good feeding spot." To show his point he snagged an errant bug with his tongue.

Amphibius smiled, it was nice to see someone like-minded for a change. "Yes I can show a few places you might like."

"Ugh." The elf eared girl said in disgust. "Now we got two of them."

"Oh come off it Lupa." The other girl said. "Besides I think the short one is kind of cute."

"You are so weird Leash." Lupa said shaking her head. "He's got a huge tongue!"

Leash grinned. "He does, doesn't he?" The way she said it made Lupa shutter at the mental images she was coming up with.

"What is it you two want?" Sauron asked them. He didn't like the new arrivals much, they stunk of the outside world too much.

"Hey we just wanted to say hi." Fred said. "We're just trying to make some new friends is all."

"Yeah what the big man said." Toad said. Sauron growled at the little annoyance.

Leash got in front of him. "Come on Sauron, leave him alone." She smiled down at Toad and he was a little surprised. A girl never smiled at him. "Let's go for a walk away from certain people." She told him looking over her shoulder at a slightly fuming Sauron. "I want to hear about the outside world, and what's going on."

"O-okay, s-sure." Toad said nervously and walked next to her as they left.

"Well what about you big man?" Lupa asked. "You got any interesting stories to tell. I mean I have never been outside this place and I like to hear about the world."

"So would I." Amphibius said also. Sauron growled and took to the skies. He didn't want to learn about the outside world, this _was_ his world and he never understood what the appeal was to the outside. Meanwhile back on the ground Fred was telling his new friends of his day in the monster truck shows and both of them were listening with fascination on his descriptions of what it was like. He was actually having a good time, normally people didn't listen to him or something but they were.

It was kind of nice. He wasn't sure when he first got here if this was the right move, but the rooms at Magneto's tower, which was a tall impressive one that seemed to survey the entire city, was way better then at the boarding house.

Plus he was meeting a lot of new mutants and no one here hated him or laughed at him or made fun of him. He was having a better time here, then back in stupid Bayville too. He smiled to himself as he continued tell his stories. 'Maybe this place is okay.' He thought to himself.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 30: A NEW MISSION**

**It's back to the Mansion and Xavier has found something interesting with Cerebro.**

**Author's Notes**

First off please leave reviews people, the more I get the more I will work on these stories, or telling others would help too but whatever works for you.

Secondly I was asked by a new writer to help promote his story "XMan is Australian for Mutant" by matt3678 it's not bad and there are a few spelling errors but nothing major. Take a look and leave a review, but be warned it's an AU story so there are a few changes.


	30. A New Misson

Aaron: Actually I'm not thinking of them end badly, as for the clones, you'll see in another story.

Slickboy444: Yeah I've wanted to bring in the Savage Land from day one, it's just too cool a place not to. When Lance finds out he won't be pleased and I hope to lay to rest his feelings for Kitty when it happens too. I figured Sinister wasn't one to just let any opportunity to slip by and just focus on Jean and Scott. Although I'm not sure if this is exactly an AU since it takes place after the series but I get your meaning. Plus I love to surprise people I mean why be predictable?

Sparky Genocide: Don't worry I'll get back there and show the other Acolytes as well.

Ruby631: She won't show up until much later, and I'm glad you liked me brining in Crystal.

ViciousAssassin: good guesses, but I'm not saying if any were right.

Red Witch: Yes they are doing fine and the X-Men are in for a surprise.

The Uncanny R-Man: Well it's still early in their relationship so she still might. Well you're half right about the clones but I'm not saying which half, that would ruin the surprise.

TheLegendaryManHimself: Maybe she can, and you know Sinister has got something planned all right.

Thanks to: Ldypebsaby, X0001, LadyDeathStrike1, mattb3671

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 30: A NEW MISSION**

Xavier was in Cerebro scanning the world for any new mutants, either those that just manifested or those causing trouble. He also was trying to scan for their new enemies the Hellions and Azazel but so far they seemed to have ways of blocking him just as Magneto did. He felt slightly exposed now, with so many diverse groups and his right out in the open he was afraid they could be attacked yet again.

He was grateful for Dr. Strange's help and he also made plans to upgrade the security systems when the new additions were going to start in two weeks, but he was also didn't want his students attacked here anymore. This was a home to many of them it was supposed to be someplace safe but lately it seemed it wasn't so safe. He was about to shut down Cerebro when suddenly a very large numbers of mutants showed up.

It just appeared out of nowhere in a remote place away from any cities. He concentrated on the area and marked its location in the system. In fact he was certain there were hundreds of them then just as suddenly it was gone. Xavier wondered what this meant and decided to look into it.

Upstairs however there was a meeting of sorts for the students. They were all in the library since it was one of the few rooms that could hold them all. Logan, Ororo and Hank in front and Logan stood up front of everyone, there were a lot of students talking amongst themselves, so Logan let out a loud growl and it got everyone's attention. He gave a small smirk as he loved doing that. "Alright listen up. The new additions will start soon and event thought the top floor will get much needed new rooms by expanding the mansion's sides, that leaves a lot of rooms on the first floor that will be either new or extended from the old ones and we would like a few suggestions from you kids. So if ya got one raise your hand don't shout it out."

He nodded to Jubilee who got her hand up first. "Well I was wondering if we could expand the gym, you see all it has is weight equipment and that mat for sparing and stuff, and I was wondering if we could get some gymnastic equipment in? I mean I started that out in my old school but Bayville didn't have anything here like that, not that would let me do it now but you get the point."

Roberto nudged Bobby who was next to him. "Dude you didn't say that your girlfriend was a gymnast. That's like one of a guy's dreams isn't it?"

Bobby just smiled. "Hey what can I say she's a girl with a lot of hidden talents."

Logan nodded. "Yeah alright, I'll see about that. Yes Elf?"

"I vas vondering if you could also put in a fencing equipment too ja? I've been vondering if I could get my old swords from back home here and start to teach some fencing." Kurt told him.

"Does anyone want to learn?" Logan asked him, he figured a few new activities might help the kids not only keep busy but also keep in shape too.

"Ja, Amanda, Blink, Bobby, Jubilee, Amara all asked me to teach zem."

Logan looked to the others and they seemed to nod. "Alright but I want an adult to supervise at least when this is going on, until I'm sure things can be trusted in your hands." Kurt looked pleased at that, even since that fight with his biological father he had been wanting to improve his skills, but there wasn't a fencing team at Bayville and he couldn't get his fencing swords past customs on his first time here, so he had left them at home with his parents and didn't see the need to get them until now.

"Yes Clarice?" Ororo asked seeing her raise her hand.

"Will the kitchen and dinning rooms be expanded too? I mean it's getting kind of crowded in there."

Ororo nodded. "Yes in fact we are expanding those rooms with more appliances also, like a second larger fridge, especially for those of you with large appetites." There were a few laughs at that everyone knowing exactly to the ones she was refereeing too.

So far after all of the questions, they came up with the following. The kitchen, dining room, gym and the recreation room would all be expanded, and a sitting room, a study room would also be added to the mansion as well. Someone even asked for a tennis court but that was up for debate later. Someone even asked for an indoor pool and when Logan asked him why since they got an outdoor one, he got an answer that then they could swim all the time.

Logan wasn't sure about that, but then Scott added they could do water drills in all year round so that got Logan's attention and he would ask Xavier about it. There were mixed feelings about that some that they would get a pool to swim in all the time, but also the fact they would have all the water rescue stuff all the time too.

At the end of the meeting the students were filing out of the room when Xavier came in and looked around. "Logan I need you and the adults in a meeting, I would also like Jean, Scott there as well as Kitty, Piotr, Vincent and Rogue."

Logan nodded. "Alright I'll round them up, is something wrong?"

Xavier thought about it. "I'm not sure Logan, but I hope not."

It didn't take long for Logan to round them all up into Xavier's office they didn't know what to expect but as soon as everyone was gathered around and sat down he began. "Early this morning I was looking through Cerebro and in one area there was a sudden explosion of mutant signatures, in the hundreds in one localized area then it suddenly stopped." He let that all sink in then went on. "The area is a valley that used to be a small town in Arizona dessert that used to be a gold town but when the mines dried up the town was abandoned and I've check to see if any military bases were ever in the area also."

"You don't think the government or the FOH or someone else might be experimenting on mutants do you?" Ororo asked knowing full well if a military base was in the area it wouldn't be good their own experience with Area 51 was more then enough for her and the others.

"Thankfully I don't think so." Xavier explained. "There was never any military presence or anything like that so I don't think so. But I did find something odd." He pulled out a few papers that were print outs of information he had gathered. "It seems that someone bought all the land in that area, some company that turns out not to do much at all."

"A front?" Logan asked him.

Xavier nodded. "Yes I believe so, this company has bought up lots of construction equipment and other items that I found but no building records or permits were found. Plus there's the fact that someone this company has the finances to buy all of this yet they don't seem to do any business at all."

"So what do you think is going on Professor?" Scott asked him. This was sounding too strange for him and he wasn't sure what to think of it, but he got a bad feeling about it.

"I honestly don't know." Xavier said leaning back in his wheelchair. "But that's what I would like for you four to find out." He said looking to Rogue, Vince, Kitty and Piotr.

"Wait! Us?" Rogue asked then looked to Jean and Scott who looked just as confused.

Xavier got a small smile. "Yes, I want you four to go in there and look around, posing hopefully as students out on break and maybe say you got lost out in the dessert and hopefully any one you meet might buy this and you can find out what is going on."

"Now I know Jean and Scott are the most experienced, but I felt it was time to see what some of you can do on your own. Jean and Scott may not always be here and at times you may have to do the best you can on your own. That's why I would like Scott and Jean to chose which one of you four will lead the infiltration team while Logan and anyone he sees fit to bring along will stay behind in the Blackbird in case things go wrong."

Scott wasn't sure how to take it at first. He was the leader of the X-Men and felt it was his personal responsibility but Xavier was right. The others needed to know how to deal with things on their own. "Alright...well Piotr and Vince are too new so they're out."

Piotr nodded and Vince smiled. "Good I didn't want the job anyway."

Scott nodded. "Kitty you've been on the team longer then Rogue, but she is more older then you and I think under pressure is a bit more level headed and focuses...so I think Rogue should be in charge."

Rogue was literally stunned silent at that. "I agree I think Rogue is the perfect choice." Jean said to Xavier.

"Wait a minute!" Rogue said standing up. "Y'all can't beh serious? Ah mean ah...ah...ah can't do this."

"Hey I think you can do it, in fact I'm all for it and I'm not saying this cause I'm your boyfriend." Vincent said with a proud smile on his face. "I've known you're a strong woman and I believe in you in this."

"I'm like so totally for this too." Kitty said happily. She actually didn't want the job either and to her Rogue was the perfect choice. Piotr nodded Kitty's point, since he also had no desire for leadership. Rogue looked around and seeing she wasn't getting any help sat down in defeat.

'There's no way I can do this...this is Scott's kind of thing not me.' She thought to herself.

Xavier turned to Logan. "Who will you take with you?"

Logan scratched this chin. "I guess I'll take just Sarah. If we need to sneak in I'd like to have someone that knows how to do it."

"Plus I little more father/daughter time huh?" Hank said with an amused smile on his face, Logan just shot him a look. Xavier explained the mission and told them to pack light just in case they there was a place to stay, and so if someone checked out their story they would see the bags and they would go to the nearest city and rent a car to also enforce the charade.

Since Vince had packed at super speed he went to check on Rogue since he knew she was most likely freaking out about now. He knocked on the door and Wanda walked out. "Talk to her, kiss her, grope her do something to calm that girl down." She said to him and walked down the hall. Vincent blinked a few times at that then looked in. Rogue was looking through all her clothes and he meant all of them. Her clothing was scattered around the place and she was frantically looking through them.

"Oh God what ah'm ah doin'? There's no way ah can do this." She was saying to herself.

"What? Pack?" Vincent said with a smile.

She turned to face him quickly then walked up to him and started poking him in his chest. "Why didn't ya say somethin' back there? Ah can't do this, ah'm not Scott or Jean or Logan or Storm. Ah'm not ready for this, ah can't do this!"

He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "Rogue...Marie...you can do this." He told her. She was a little surprised he had used her real name, besides Xavier and Kurt he was the only one that knew it and used it only when they were alone and usually when to show her that he was meaning what he was saying. "I believe in you, I've always known you were a strong woman, you're a lot stronger then you think and will admit to yourself. A lesser person would have lost it by now from all the things you've told me about your life and from what I heard."

He started to gently rub her upper arms and moved in close. "Everyone is behind you because you've shown then that you have what it takes, now stop doubting yourself. You _can _do this, we all have faith in you...me most of all." He said softly while brushing her face, she closed her eyes feeling the warmth of his hand and held it with her own.

She slowly opened her eyes to look into those light blue ones of his. "Y'all do have faith in me?"

She smiled that smile she loved to see the one that made him look so boyish and friendly. "Yes, so stop worrying you'll do fine and I know you'll do well. Besides this might be a cake walk anyway."

"Ya think so?"

His eyebrows rose for a second as he tilted his head. "Truth?"

"Please."

He sighed. "It could turn into a major mess...but I'm not worried with you in charge."

Rogue sighed and leaned against him. "Ah'll try not ta let you and the others down."

"You won't." He said then kissed her forehead.

**-Library Room-**

Sarah in her usual jeans and black T-shirt was reading a book she had found. Ever since she had gotten here she had found a lot of pleasure in reading. She had been denied so many things and actually knew little about the world. It was why she liked the history lessons because it interests her to know what happen before her, where the world came from.

She was also getting into this fantasy books that she had found. They were worlds unlike anything she had ever imagined, which is why she liked them so much. They were full of possibilities, some people didn't like them she had found out because they weren't real enough but then again she liked them because they weren't. Her own life was real yet something he didn't like, at least before she came here. Plus they were more 'real' then people thought, especially since she shared a house with an actual dragon and knew several people who used actual magic.

So far she was in the third book in a series called the Lord of the Rings. She knew there were movie versions but after reading Jurassic Park then seeing the movie she found the book more enjoyable. So she wanted to read them first before the watched the movies. She was so focused on the book she didn't notice Logan come over to her before he was right next to her.

"Hey kid." She nearly jumped from being startled by him, which was a rare thing indeed.

She scowled a little. "Do you have to keep calling me that?" Logan just smirked, she knew he had nicknames for everyone but she wished he didn't use the work kid. Although it could be taken in two ways, the first because of her age the second because she was his 'daughter'. Although it was the first one that bothered her the most, she may be young but wasn't exactly a 'kid' by the normal sense. After what she had gone through she had 'grown up' kind of fast personally.

"We got a mission and I want you to come along." He told her. She stood up immediately, reading was good but action was better. "You might want to take that book though, we're the backup and we may or may not be needed, so grab you uniform and some spare clothing too, don't know how long we're going to be out there."

"Alright, is anyone else in the backup?" She asked him.

"Na, I think we can handle things ourselves." He said with a grin on his face and she couldn't help but mimic it herself. She knew that from all that training Hydra forced on her she was more then capable to almost any challenge.

"I'll go pack then." She said and grabbed her book.

About and hour later everyone was walking to the X-Jet. They stowed their backpacks and their uniforms if they needed them in a separate locker as they arrived up front. Logan was in the middle of a preflight while Sarah sat next to him watching everything with interest. She had been trained to do a lot of things, even fly certain aircraft if needed, but she was certified on this, and she was still learning how. Kitty of course sat down next to Piotr while Rogue and Vincent took up the seats across from them. Kitty noticed the Rogue looked less nervous then in the meeting and she smiled. She knew if they had to pick someone Rogue was one of the toughest people she knew and was perfect for this.

Then she frowned a little thinking of leaving Lockheed behind. "Are you alright?" She looked to Piotr who was looking at her a little concerned.

Kitty gave a small smile. "Yeah, I guess I'm just like a little worried about leaving Lockheed, I know Dani said she would look after him for me and I trust her and Lockheed does like her, but this will be the longest I've been away from him I think. I just hope the little guy doesn't freak out or anything."

Piotr gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "I am sure he will be fine and the Dani will take great care of him." Kitty was glad he was coming for this mission, he always seemed to make her happy and she cuddled up to him hugging him too. She had to admit he was a nice and sensitive boy who was just perfect for her. She sighed in his chest as she felt his arm drape over her.

"Thanks for saying that." She told him, she was kind of hoping this was going to be a long flight because at the moment she felt very comfortable like this. Then she felt the X-Jet power up and the humming of the engines start to kick in.

"Alright everyone here we go." Logan said as he lifted the craft off the ground and flew it through the concealed opening of the hanger. "It's going to take a few hours so get comfortable." Then he noticed Kitty and Piotr. "But not _too_ comfortable."

They didn't seem to hear it and he let out a small growl, Sarah next to him smiled for a second at that then decided to go and get her book, it was a long flight and she wanted to know what was going to happen next in the book.

Rogue was looking out the window lost in her own thoughts. Everyone seemed so confident in her and she was afraid she would let everyone down. Then she felt a hand take hers and gently squeeze it, she looked over to Vincent who gave her a warm smile that melted her on the inside. She squeezed back also, she was glad he had talked to her before this, she felt better now, but the worry was still there. 'God how do Scott and Jean make this look so easy?' She thought to herself. After this was done she was going to ask them because this was starting to wreck her nerves a little. Then she also wondered if this was why Scott was so serious all the time and Jean tried to be so...perfect. Was it all just so they had confidence in their leadership abilities?

While looking back out the window she was thinking about that last part. Sure they acted like that, and she and the others made fun about it...but they all looked up to them for support and for leadership also because they were so confident about what they did. She was about to see if she could bring up any of their memories to see if that were true but stopped herself.

She hated to try and remember all the memories and personalities stuck in her mind. Sure they weren't as bad as they were when the Professor 'purged' her mind last year...but there was still the 'echo' of them all and she hated to actually try and bring them up because she was afraid she might lose herself again.

She only tried to remember of people's memories when she needed to or when it was something not important, like where Hank kept his secret stash of Twinkies, but tried not to bring up the really personal stuff, she had gotten a few 'flashes' of memories a few times from complete strangers and a few of the others, most her harmless but a few were a bit more intimate then she wanted, luckily they were mostly just a couple of seconds or something then she would try and forget it and not think about it. Besides it was like the Professor or Jean going into someone's mind without their permission too, so she resolved to just talk to them about it when she got back.

She leaned against Vincent resting her head on his shoulder just trying to get a little rest, it was a long flight and she wanted to make sure she had enough energy for the mission.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 31: TOWN X**

**I've notice a drop in reviews remember the more I get the more motivated I am to work on these fics and the faster they get put out.**

**Also if anyone has any OC's they would like to see as part of Town X please tell me.**


	31. Town X

mattb3671: Thanks if I can fit him in I will.

Xmenfan: Did you even read that chapter? I already SAID who was on the mission, read more carefully.

Gobbledegoop: He'll show up later in his own story arc.

Janusi: Oh they'll be back you can be sure of it.

Winblades: Kind of hoping for more Marvel based characters plus I don't know them and it might take too long to read up on them too.

X00001: Well she's never lead before so naturally she would be nervous and Vince didn't want the job and he's still new, he doesn't have the experience that Rogue or the others have.

Knight: Yeah I like in have characters grow it makes it seem more real.

Erich: I'll think about the Hulk and I got a rough idea panned out at the moment, but it will be it's own story. I never saw that movie and most likely never will cause it looks and sounds horrible so no go there but Black Cat will show up soon in a Gambit story arc.

Slickboy444: Glad you liked that moment and Rogue did have a few leadership roles in the comics and I wanted to show that in this. Sarah is just fun to write cause it's like you said she can grow many different ways and there will be more father/daughter moments.

Aaron: I'm glad you like the Vincent/Rogue and Sarah stuff.

ViciousAssassin: There will be some Logan/Sarah stuff and Rogue will learn what it means to be a leader, glad you liked all that other stuff too.

Red Witch: Hey like I've said I understand completely, and as always I look forward to what you think.

The Uncanny R-Man: There will be a few canon characters and OCs. Since I already used August I think that will do.

Ruby631: I see your point but I picked it cause I liked that name, but you'll also see her full name in this chapter.

Proponent of EVO: If you wanted to sneak into some place or out of it, wouldn't you want someone who could walk through things?

Thanks to: fireinu, Ranndie Mazda, Daniel de los Santos, celtcath74, DemonRogue13, TheLegendaryManHimself, Sparky Genocide, ldypebsaby

**AN: Thanks to all those who wanted to see any of their OCs in this fic, I may use them but some more then others and canon characters will show up too.**

**Disclaimer: The OC Slayer belongs to Slickboy444**

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 31: TOWN X**

It was a couple of hours later when the jet landed out in the desert away from the nearest city that was also closest to their location that they were to check out. They had gone over some of the older maps of the area as well as any reports about the area too but there wasn't much to go on. The area seemed pretty much deserted and it looked like no one went there on the surface either. When they touched down everyone got up and they walked to the back of the jet and out the ramp. Kitty placed a hand over her eyes seeing the city in the distance. "Do we have to like walk all the way there?"

"No, since those two are the ones going to the city for a ride." Logan said pointing to Rogue and Vincent.

"Why us?" Rogue asked him her hands on her hips.

"Because you two can fly there and if you need to he can zip you most of the way there at super speed." Logan told her.

Kitty grinned the heat of the place was already a bit much and she was glad she didn't have to walk across the desert in this heat. "Well have a nice flight guys." She said grinning. Rogue gave her a small glare before she took off to the air Vincent not far behind her.

**-Unknown Location-**

In a room with a circular table three figures are sitting with chairs, two men and a woman all wearing modest dark clothing. The room is medium sized with hardwood floors and a décor that gave a feeling of a room for elders of a community, which it was. The three individuals were in their late fifties at least one of the men were bold the other man still had some hair only all white and very thin and the woman wore short hair and had strange pure yellow eyes.

"When is he coming?" The woman asked. "He said that outsiders were coming here and some would be friends others wouldn't be."

The bald man leaned back in his chair. "You know him, always has to go for the dramatic effect."

"True, but it helps get my point across." The three of them saw a mist behind them fade as a tall muscular figured with blond hair walked towards them. He is wearing strange samurai like armor with two katanas on each hip and one large sword on his back. He wears an oriental symbol on each hand and another symbol over his left eye of an eye in a pyramid.

"Show off." The other man said with a smile. "So what's our ronin warrior have for us. Normally you only show up in this town every few months to check up on things, or for a place to rest up."

"I also come here when trouble is coming and that's close at hand." The warrior man told them. The symbol over his eye glowed. "You've been having problems with the Shroud haven't you?"

The woman sighed. "A transformer blew out, the generators kicked in after a few seconds...we were hoping it was so small that no one would notice...they're fixing it but it could take a few days for it to be fully restored and it could fail one or more times."

The tall man nodded. "It will and then dark forces will come...but I think I want to 'welcome' our new guests when they get here."

"Are you sure it's wise?" The bald man asked him. "I mean strangers always go through the system to see if they can be trusted, it's the only reason things have been so safe."

"Things change, besides they'll be helpful."

The woman nodded. "You counsel is always appreciated and we'll discuss it and see if we can let them in."

The man nodded and headed for the door but then the bald man spoke up. "What if they aren't the ones that will help us but destroy us as you've said once before?"

The man stopped right before he was at the door. "I'm not wrong...but...if I am. Then they'll know why I'm called Slayer."

**-In the City-**

After finding a safe place to land they walked through the city until they found a place to rent a car after Vince looked it up in the phone book and after a few directions they found a place to rent a car. It was a usual place in the city where you could rent cars, and there seemed to be a wide selection and as they walked into the air-conditioned offices, which they both were thankful for, they looked around and found a desk for the clients. They walked up to the desk and there was a blond woman there who did what had to be a practiced smile at them. "Hello, how can I help you?"

"Me and my friends are going for a little trip before school starts and we were wondering if we could rent a car here." Vince asked the lady.

"Do either of you have a license?" She asked them and they pulled them out. See looked curiously at Vincent's. "Canadian?"

"Foreign exchange student." He said and she seemed to accept that. "Well she will have to sign for everything, is there any particular model you want?"

"Just somethin' for four people that can take the heat of this dessert will be fahn." Rogue told her. After a few choices were given they just picked on and while she went to use the credit card they had been given Rogue had to sign all the forms. "God why do these things have ta be so annoyin' ta fill out."

"Want some help?" They were sitting at a small table and he looked over at the sheet then he noticed something on it and when she saw the look on his face she quickly covered a certain section.

"Did ya see that?" She asked him seriously, she knew that he would know exactly what she meant.

"Yeah...sorry."

"If ya tell anyone-"

"They won't find my body I get it, you can trust me remember?" Vince said with a smile on his face. Then after all the paper work was filled out they went to get the car on the way there he couldn't help but ask and she knew he would. "So...that's your full name."

"Yeah...now you know why I prefer Rogue." She said bitterly.

"It's not that bad a name." He told her seriously. "I mean, Marie is a nice first name."

"Yeah but your full name ain't Marie Anna Raven." She told him clearly in a bad mood because he had seen that name because the forms required her full name. **(1)**

"Isn't Raven the first name of...well..._her_?" Vincent said referring to Mystique.

"Ya...now you know another reason ah don't want ta go by it." They made their way to a four door black car and with the keys they were given they got in and sat down. Rogue was about to start it up but stopped herself. "Look ah know we got this thing were ah tell ya about mahself...and ah know ya have been patient with meh...but that was one thang ah really wanted to leave behind meh."

"I understand that...but I take it you didn't like the name."

She nodded. "It reminds meh of mah childhood and ah didn't lahke it...besides ever since ah became a Goth do ya know how many 'quote the raven' jokes ah heard?" Vincent snicker and she hit him on the arm. "Shut up it ain't that funny!"

"You're right, you're right, sorry you caught me off guard with that. I can see your point and I swear I won't tell anyone that, on my honor and on the honor of my clan." He said seriously, Rogue breathed a sigh of relieve she knew that if he swore on his honor he really meant it and not even torture would get him to talk. She started up the car and saw that they needed gas, luckily she had seen a gas station on the way here.

While driving she had meant to ask him something. "Vince...since we're on the subject of names...why did you pick Freeman as a last name?"

Vincent smiled at that. "Well it's only fair...you see there are three things about me that I carry with me that always remind me of the important moments in my life." Then his face fell and was very serious. "My scars represent all the pain and suffering I've gone through...my tattoo is for what I've learned about being a person and about honor...my last name...well when I was trying to pick a name I went through a whole book and when I couldn't decided I went to the roof of the orphanage to think."

I sat there looking out over the city trying to figure out something then...I don't know when or how...but I thought about my life and how at that moment in my life I wasn't afraid anymore, I felt safe for the first time, I had friends with Mary and Benny and Father Michaels was there for me and I had been training under Mr. Kansuke for a year and for the first time in my life I felt like I was...happy. I was finally free of that nightmare of my past...I had a new beginning."

"So when I thought of the name Freeman it was like it was tailored to me...I was free of that place, of those people hunting me...and of my old life. That's why I picked it, to remind me of a new beginning I got in life, free of that horrible place." Rogue sat there stunned by that, she knew what he had gone through but that was something very deep and she was trying to think of something, anything to say to that.

"Whoa...that's...damn." She shook her head while thinking about all of that, she didn't think he picked that name because it had such meaning towards him.

**-X-Jet-**

Kitty was sitting on the ramp waiting for the others to get back, while Sarah was with her reading. "Say Sarah do you know what you and Logan will be doing out here?" Sarah gave a small shrugged indicating she didn't know. "Huh...I would have thought you would kind of like it, kind of like a father/daughter camping trip."

"Camping?" Sarah asked. "What's that?"

Kitty looked a little surprised then she remembered how she had been raised. "Well it's kind of a getting back to nature type of thing, you either do it with family and/or friends. You basically go out, usually it's in a forest but I guess this works too, and you basically try and have fun."

Sarah put down her book and asked more about this. She had missed out on so much she was still learning all the things that normal kids had grown up knowing, she didn't understand some of the things she had learned and some were just strange and silly to her. Sure she had lived in the wilderness before joining up and this 'camping' sounded a lot like what she had been doing but that was just surviving, it wasn't exactly 'fun', but then she also hadn't any supplies and had been alone.

As Kitty told her about how her family had gone camping when she was eleven Sarah felt a sense of loss. Whenever she heard these stories about how the others had grown up she felt cheated. She would never know what it would be like to grow up like that since she had spent most of her life as a lab specimen. Then she heard something in the distance with her hearing and looked sharply to the distance.

Logan had heard it too and walked out of the jet looking in the same direction seeing a dust cloud in the distance, he could hear it was a car coming and wondered if those two had finally shown up. A few minutes later the black car showed up and stopped by the jet and they saw Rogue and Vince get out. "Sorry if that took so long, it took longer to find a place and we had to stop for gas." Vincent explained.

Piotr came out of the jet carrying their bags. Rogue opened the trunk as he put them in, Logan walked up to Vince and handed him two items. "This here is an emergency beckon, if things really go wrong activate it." He told him handing him a small long device, Vincent looked it over then Logan gave him a cell phone. "This has an auto-dial to a phone I got so we can keep in contact."

Vincent took the folded up phone. "Cool. Hopefully we won't need them, but they'll be nice to have."

Kitty had already gotten in the back seat with the window down and stuck out her head. "Come on you guys, let's get going." Vincent let out a small laugh and walked off to the car. He sat in the passenger seat as Rogue was driving while Piotr and Kitty sat in the back. As they drove on Vince gave out a few directions now and then. "How do you like know where to go?" Kitty asked him leaning forward in her seat.

Vincent pulled a map that was on the seat next to him. "When we went for gas I got a map and looked it over." He also got a plastic bag out and passed it to her. "I also got snacks and drinks."

"Cool!" Kitty found a water bottle and took a sip. "That's better, you want anything Peter?"

"Da, water will be fine with me." He said and smiled and nodded to her as she passed him a bottle. They went on for about fifteen minutes to an old unused road that seemed to lead to where they were supposed to go. Vincent had said that this road hadn't been on the map but it was the road that was on the old one that supposed to have led to the town.

The road was basically a dirt road and they could see large hills that must have surrounded the valley. Then when they got close to the entrance they had to stop the car. There was an old dried up riverbed that was too deep to cross without a bridge, there was a bridge...only the metallic bridge had seen better days. The middle part looked like it had broken and fallen in years ago.

They got out and stood in front of the bridge. They could see a road going behind the hills on the other side. "Now what?" Kitty asked.

"Well I could fly up and get a bird's eye view of the place, try to find another way around?" Vincent said looking up.

"Alright go for it, ah'll go across and see how far tha road goes." Rogue said then turned to Kitty and Piotr. "You two stay here." She got the cell phone from Vincent and handed it to Kitty. "If anything happens call Logan."

"You don't think anything will actually happen do you?" Kitty asked.

"Can't beh do careful."

"Wow...look at you being all Cyclops like." Kitty said with a smiled, Rogue just rolled her eyes and floated a few feet off the ground getting ready to cross the broken bridge, Vincent had already taken to the air and with his speed got a great view of the place. He could see the valley but there didn't seem to be anything at all in it and so far he couldn't tell if there was another route to take. He started to float back down when he heard yelling and saw Kitty and Piotr waving frantically up to him.

He looked for Rogue but she wasn't around, that worried him and he got to the ground as quickly as he could. "What happen? Where's Rogue?" He asked them worried.

"We were like just watching Rogue and she just...disappeared."

"What do you mean she disappeared?" He said loudly causing Kitty to flinch.

Piotr placed a hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down. "It is true comrade, we were just looking as she crossed the bridge and just vanished."

"Guys ah'm right here, didn't y'all hear meh?" They all turned to see Rogue, or part of Rogue. Her head and upper body along with one leg was showing but the rest of her wasn't and there was a strange distortion around her missing body parts.

"Quel l'Enfer ?" Was Vincent's only words.

"Like what he said." Kitty said staring wide eyed and Piotr was just dumbstruck silent.

Rogue looked at them in confusion then looked down at herself seeing her missing parts. "What?!" She jumped towards them and her body reformed. "Okay...that was weird...even for our lives." She placed her hand in front of the area and there was a shimmering as her hand disappeared but she felt nothing.

Vincent walked up to her. "Uh...you said something about us not hearing you right?"

Rogue turned to face him. "Yeah it got real loud suddenly and then when ah looked back ah realized that not only was tha bridge all there now, but Kitty and Piotr were spazin' out, ah shouted to them but they didn't seem ta hear meh."

Vincent stuck his head through it and pulled it out. "Yeah the bridge is still there, and you're right it is louder in there. Like there's a town or something." All four of them walked forward and everything the other two had said was true. "Hey look." Vince said pointing to devices on the bridge and then there were also other ones on poles around the edge of the river bed and seemed to make a perimeter around the valley.

"I think they must be a combination of holo-projectors and some kind of sound dampener." Kitty said looking at the devices. "Man this is really hi tech stuff, I mean I don't think we can just walk right in like we planned." She said a little worried.

"Walking in is easy." Came a strange voice and they turned to see a man who seemed to appear out of nowhere on the other side of the bridge. He had on a few strange tattoos and a few swords and samurai armor. "Walking out...that's the problem."

"Looks tough." Piotr whispered to the others. "Think we can take him?"

"Maybe, he's a fighter I can tell that much by the way he carries himself." Vincent told them, after all that training and fighting in either the streets or in the competitions he learned to judge good fighters from bad ones from how they carried themselves and what he saw...well...let's just say he knew it was going to be a challenge. Normally he'd love to take someone on like this to test his skills, but asking for a sparing match or getting into a fight wasn't the best move at this time.

Rogue was thinking things through she was in charge and she had to chose three options, run and maybe not find out what's going on, fight this guy who might not be worth the trouble or option three. Try a peaceful way. "Look ah know this kind of looks bad us being here but there's an explanation."

"You mean how you and your friends Rogue were sent by Xavier to check up on all the mutant signatures?" Rogue and everyone else was shocked by that. "And before you ask, no I'm not telepathic...but I do have my ways of seeing the truth in the world." He said with a grin on his face.

"This area is under my protection and I know you're not here to cause trouble, but I think the Elders will want to speak with you four."

"And just who are these Elders and you for that matter?" Rogue asked him. She didn't like his smug attitude and especially how he seemed to know so much.

"The Elders are in charge of the town in the valley, it's called Town X. It's a safe haven for mutants, their families and mutant sympathizers. As for me...you can call me Slayer."

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 32: A LOOK AROUND TOWN**

**(1)** Before I get a LOT of comments on giving Rogue a name I just wanted to give Rogue a name yet try and stay canon (or as close as you can get with her) so I chose to make her first name from the movie cause I liked that name, Anna Raven was an alias Rogue used in the comics so I made that her middle and last name. I figured she should have a full name and I just wanted to bring it out, love it or hate it but I don't think you'll ever see her referred by her full name again.

**AN:** Also I found a neglected story in the R section I think you should check out. It's** 'You Can't Run On Ice**' by **little miss tiny shoes**, trust me it's really good.

- Quel l'Enfer ? : What the Hell?


	32. A Look Around Town

mattb3671: Glad you liked it and the explanation of the name, also that I got such a strong reaction out of someone too.

TheLegendaryManHimself: Glad you liked the names bit, and Sinister and the Acolytes will shoe up. Slayer is a mutant and you can read about him in two stories by Slickboy444, and you'll see a lot of people in this town.

celtcath74: There was a show called murder in small town x once, but this has nothing to do with that and it's my own creation.

Erich: Sorry no Spyder will show up I'm just using her for the Spider X story, yeah something sinister will show up in the town, Good point about the training with Vincent, I'll put something about that when they get back,

Slickboy444: Actually that's why I had Logan and Sarah there, so they could bond some more, I'm glad you feel I'm doing Slyer justice, and I hope I can keep it up and I think you'll like the town.

Aaron: Oh well close enough for her name, glad you liked the talks with those two groups and what can I say? I like writing X23.

ViciousAssassin: Sorry you're wrong about Slayer, and you're right Sinister will stop on by, and look for some Sarah/Logan bonding and more about the town.

Thanks to: The Uncanny R-Man, ldypebsaby, Winblades, Janusi, X00001, Red Witch, Sparky Genocide, LadyDeathStrike1, Ruby631, Ranndie Mazda

**Disclaimer: The OCs: Riley(Chaos) belongs to Ranndie Mazda. Thomas (Jedi) Larsen belongs to Darkness1. Jaeger, Jasper, Celeste belong to Damn-my-name-was-taken. Marianne (Fantasy) Jong & Michael (Gun) Johnson belong to BlackRoseApocalypse. Mallory (Rue) O'Bryanson belongs to Matt3671. Valerie (Venus) Rush & Damien Hunter belong to Aaron.**

**All other OCs are mine and all canon character belong to Marvel.**

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 32: A LOOK AROUND TOWN**

The four of them looked at the stranger. "So...what? We go meet these Elders and then what?" Vince asked him.

"That's for them to decide...but I don't think you got anything to worry about." Slayer told them.

"So do like drive in or..."

Slayer smiled. "I got a faster way." He walked towards them that he was close enough and started to mumble something and his symbols started to glow. Then a mist started to form around them and soon all they saw was white and then it faded away and they found themselves in a wood paneled floor in a room with a long table with three old people sitting there.

"Okay...what was that?" Rogue asked Slayer.

"A little trick I learned, helps me get from place to place."

"So these are the strangers?" To woman asked looking at them and trying to gage their appearance. "So why are you four here?"

"We've with Charles Xavier ma'am." Rogue said stepping forward. She guesses as the 'leader' of this group she should be the one to speak for them, although she knew if she messed this up it could go bad. That thought didn't ease her nerves any but tried not to show it.

"Ah yes, we know about him and I take it your four are part of that X-Men team?" Said the man who still had hair on his head. He leaned back in his chair and seemed pleased by that. "I have a great respect for Xavier and do many here actually. He's trying to help the world accept out kind...not sure if he'll accomplish that dream and I doubt any one of us will live to see it, if it does but he has my respect."

"I'm Elder Callahan, the lady next to me is Elder Fiona and the one scowling over there is Elder Steward."

"So again please continue as to why you're here." Elder Steward said, he didn't like unauthorized or uninvited people to the town, it was his duty to ensure the safety of the community.

"Well tha Professor picked up on a lot of mutant signatures then they vanished. Ya see he's got this machined that can help him find other mutants. When all those mutants showed up then vanished he feared maybe somethin' was up, like tha military or somethin' was experimenting on mutants or worse."

Elder Fiona nodded. "I see...well...as you've seen we've had machines that hide this town from sight, sound and from psionics, we have a few mutants with intelligence mutations who built the devises but even with all things, we were having a glitch. The shroud as we call it was down for a few seconds. We're repairing it, but it might go off line a few more times."

"Whoa, that's got to like take a lot of power, this valley is huge." Kitty stated going through the numbers in her head on how much power it would take.

Callahan chuckled at that. "Yes it would but you forget child that this town has many mutants in it with a wide variety of powers. We've managed to dig our way to the magma below the valley for a geothermal power, as well as wind and solar power too. We supply all our own power and have facilities for everything, we're a self sustaining with everything, including wells for fresh water and we recycle almost everything."

"Cool." Kitty said, she liked the sound of this place she always was one for eco-friendly technology.

"Can I ask something?" Vincent said as something had been bothering him. "How do you know about the outside world and how do people get here too?"

Fiona answered that on. "That is because we are allied with an organization call the Mutant Underground. It was formed years ago before mutants were known."

"Yes, _thanks_ that that one." Steward said to them in distain.

"Hey! That wasn't our fault, Magneto was tha one that wanted that, he just dragged us into it." Rogue said sternly to him.

"We figured that, that man is an annoyance to say the least." Fiona said with a bitter tone in her voice, she didn't like Magneto or anything about him either.

"But enough about that." Callahan said to everyone. "We were actually trying to come to a consensus about Xavier and now it seems we have no choice but to talk about it." He seemed to like that fact with the broad smile on his face. "You see we know about Xavier and his work elsewhere like with his friend at Muir Island, there were elements in both the Underground and here that see him as a hope for the future."

"Or a fool." Steward muttered under his breath but he was mainly ignored.

"Anyways we've tried to contact the Morlocks in your area as well as other groups like that but they seem...resistant to trust outsiders...and there are other mutant groups too that aren't with Magneto but are not exactly peaceful either."

"Yeah we've kind of met two of those groups, the Hellions under some the control of something called the Hellfire Club and this other group called Neyaphem." Vincent spoke up referring to the new group trying to set up shop in Bayville and the other group led by Kurt's biological father Azazel.

"Yes, well that's just the tip of the iceberg I'm afraid." Fiona told them with a sigh. "Not all of them are as powerful or as troublesome as those two but we are a diverse people. Town X so far has allied with those groups on the outside whose views mirror our own."

"I don't see why we need to tell them anything." Steward said harshly. "I don't trust Xavier, he teaches peace but trains these kids as his own personal army."

The four teens started to argue this point but Rogue got them to quiet down and stepped forward. "Look ah ain't the best person for speeches and stuff but let meh tell ya this pal. You're an idiot." That got a snicker from both Callahan and even Slayer who was standing in the back just watching. "Yes he teaches us how to use our powers, and yes we do train. But it's only so that we can defend not only ourselves but also others. We only fight when we got no other choice, we don't go lookin' for trouble, in fact all we want is the right to live our lives like everyone else."

"That's what the Professor wants, but he also knows that the world can beh a violent place and he wants to make sure we can survive, and after everything that ah've seen and done and been through ah can see why. I should have died a few times by now and even the whole world was nearly taken over by Apocalypse but he didn't because he fought him. Ah once heard that the only way evil wins is from not to fightin' it, and ah'll be damned if ah just roll over and do nothin' while maniacs like Magneto are out there causing trouble for everyone and innocent people are getting' hurt."

Fiona smiled at her words. 'She may be young but she's got a fire in her.' She thought. "Well then I agree with you young lady, and I'm glad to see that some of the youth of today know when to take a stand."

"I believe the counsel will discuss the matter, please feel free to look around the town. And maybe see a few of our facilities. If we chose to vote in favor of letting you and Xavier in on the town then maybe you could help out with his resources."

"What happens if you don't vote in favor?" Piotr asked them.

Steward smiled. "Then we have some of our telepaths wipe your minds of this place." That didn't put them at ease and Slayer escorted them out of the place and outside. It was their first look at the town and it looked like a growing community. It looked like any small town except there were obvious mutants walking around like it was all normal and no one was giving them dirty looks or anything.

"Well let's get you back to your car then." Slayer said and once again the mist appeared and then soon found themselves by the car.

"Okay how do you like do that?" Kitty asked the tall man.

"Would you believe magic?" He said with a grin.

"Yeah." Kitty said simply and the honestly of that surprised him. "I got a pet dragon and we know of a few magic users, in fact Illyana who is Piotr's little sister is studying magic under Dr. Strange and so she would use the Soul Sword."

"Oh-WAIT A MINUTE!" Slayer said as his brain caught up to that last bit. "The Soul Sword! That's one of the most powerful swords that's supposed to exist and his sister has it? Well...at least Strange is a good teacher for her...maybe I should stop by his place sometime."

"Wait you know the guy too?" Vincent asked him.

Slayer nodded. "We've met a few times, even learned a few things from him too. Nice guy actually if a little well...strange."

"Hey ah got to let Logan know we're all right before he comes here for a rescue." Rogue told him. He considered this and figured it was okay, as long as she didn't say anything about the town to him yet until the Elders had passed their decision, and told her as such.

Rogue agreed and pulled out the phone and pressed the auto-dail. "Hey Logan? Well I think we may have got somethin'...ah...can't say...because ah just can't...look we're all right but we're going ta have to spend the night...look there is a group here but they want ta make sure of us okay?" She sighed then. "Look if ya don't hear from us at say...ten in the morning that means we're in trouble okay? Fahne...look Logan just enjoy your time with Sarah...oh please ah know you wanted to spend more bonding time with her...it's really sweet." She nearly laughed when she heard the growl and hanged up on him before he could say that he wasn't bonding with her. She looked over at the others then. "Alright we're ready."

**-The Crash pad-**

The Crash pad was a place normally where teenagers and young adults like to go to in the town to relax. There was an arcade through a set of doors, and during the nights the large floor on one side with a stage was used by local bands and dances were done here like a nightclub.

Actually the place was a combination of a nightclub, sports bar, restaurant and coffee house. There were pool tables, dartboards and other stuff, but since it was an all ages place there was no alcohol. There was a bar in town were you could drink but not here. The place was about half filled and the girl only named Riley, well she also went by Chaos, was working her sift.

She was seventeen and a bit on the short side, only 5'5. Her hair was sea green, long and in a lot of layers, she also got this tattoo on left upper arm that showed through her T-shirt and strange purple eyes. Of course living in a dessert climate she didn't have to wear bulky clothing for a few reasons. First was after living in London ever since she was eight, well as far as she knew she couldn't remember anything before that.

She liked the warm weather, that and she liked flirting with the other boys here and all the revealing clothing helped. She managed to sneak herself into a plane for the states when she was young since she had been living on the streets and the Underground had found her not long after she made it to this country, and now she had a job, a place to live, yeah life was great.

She adjusted her gloves that she had to constantly wear. She had two powers the first was these force bolts the other was...well...if she touched anyone or anything with her bare hands...let's just say if she ever touched someone with her bare hands it wouldn't be pretty.

She looked up seeing a group come in and grinned. Six people walked in wearing the black uniforms of the town Defenders. The group was responsible for defending the town and trying to keep the peace. She saw one of them wearing an all black, with mask that was in four sections. Grey combat boots and gloves, belt and another on going across his chest. Small shoulder pads, pouch on left thigh. He took off the mask and she saw the handsome face of Thomas Larsen a boy from Norway of about eighteen who went by the name Jedi. She found that a bit funny how he picked his name from Star Wars, but he was cute, plus she loved his white hair. That and his eyes got this blue glow to them at times too.

Next came Mallory O'Bryanson, a tall boy of over six feet tall with kangaroo type legs and red fur over his body and whiskers too with long red hair in dreadlocks and gray eyes, his arms were a little short but not too noticeable. He went by Rue and had great jumping abilities and some kind of defensive shield or something. Riley didn't really care about the specifics.

A smile formed on her face as she saw her best friend Valerie Rush and her boyfriend Damien Hunter. They were both natives of the town who had grown up here. Both were about a year younger then her and Valerie or Venus had blue and black hair, as it was actually turning blue for over the last year. She also had these wings she could grow out of her back, which was why she liked to wear backless shirts so she could whip them out whenever she wanted to.

Her boyfriend Damien had long black hair and about average height. He cold also blow up anything within a five-mile radius. Which might be why he got along with Jaeger over there sitting with her twin brother Jasper. If you could believe that, Jaeger was 16 and has ice-blue eyes and long, wavy blond hair that's always pulled back in a ponytail, plus she was kind of pretty and could blow up anything the size of a football in her line of sight. Her brother...well that was another story, Jasper was completely different.

He had these huge dragon-like wings. He had horns sticking out of his forehead, small, one-inch spikes running down his spine, a lion-like tail, and horse-like ears. Oh yeah, did I mention the incredibly large claws! Instead of fingers this guy's got talons both have the same blond hair, other then that you wouldn't know they were twins. Although he was a nice guy despite his appearance.

She walked over to see what they wanted, since they looked like they just came back from the Pit, which was this huge gravel pit where mutants liked to go and test out their powers or to train. "Hey guys have fun training?"

"Oh yeah I just _loved_ that." Jaeger said then glared at Mally. "That is if _someone_ didn't kick that rock in my direction!"

"I said I was sorry Sheila." Mally said raising his hands in defense with an Australian accent. "I didn't see you there, I was just tryin' to warn you."

"Yeah 'Look out!', that was original. You're just lucky it was just big enough to blow up, anything larger and I would have to go see the healers." Said the young blond folding her arms across her chest.

"It was kind of funny how you landed on your butt though." Jaspers snickered then yelped as his sister kicked him in the shin as he grumbled a few words.

"So where's Mr. Leader?" She was of course refereeing to Michael 'Gun' Johnson, the oldest and most experienced.

Mally smiled. "Of with his girl of course." Riley rolled her eyes, she should have known he would go strait to Marianne Jong. Those two were inseparable.

Riley shook her head, say what you will but Jaeger was never boring. "So the usual?" She got a round of yeses and then got a mischievous look in her eye. She bent down in front of Thomas. "So Tommy...you got a date for tonight?" She said in her most sexy voice. She knew that Thomas was one heck of a fighter but was a little shy if you will around girls, at least those he either liked or flirted with him, one of the reasons she found him so cute, and she whished just once he would get up the courage to ask her out.

"Uh...n-no not really." The Norwegian he was never really comfortable when she flirted with him or any girl for that matter, he always got nervous but he tried to compose himself, although the others could see him blushing.

She smiled and traced a finger under his chin. "You know one of these days you should say yes before I find someone else to spend my time with."

Just then two new faces came in. Everyone noticed the two new arrivals. One was a petit girl with brown hair in a ponytail in blue jean shorts, and a pink backless top. She came in with a tall well-built boy with dark hair and with jeans and a large red shirt that still seemed to be slightly tighter then it was meant. Riley liked the look of the big buy already. "Damn...look at the man meat."

Valerie just laughed at her friend. "You never fail do you?"

"Hey I like what I see and I always go after what I like too." She replied and went to get their orders before going after the new guy.

"Wonder who they are?" Damien asked everyone at their table. "Never seem them before, what do you guys think?"

"I think the girl is kind of cute." Jasper said then nudged Thomas. "What do you think?"

"Uh...she looks nice." He admitted, Jasper grinned at that.

"Forget it guys I think she's taken, I mean look at those two." Valerie told them and they saw the big guy pull the chair out for the girl that giggled and blushed a bit and he did seem to sit kind of close to her plus the girl put his hand on his too. "Looks like those two are dating at least."

"How can you tell?" Jaeger asked.

The older girl shrugged. "I can just tell about these things, beside I know that look those two got, I look at Damien the same way she said linking her and in his.

At the other table Kitty and Piotr were looking around, they were sent by Rogue to check out the town while she and Vincent looked at some of the others places like the local hospital to see if they might need any special medical equipment. Since Vincent was there they didn't have to worry about writing it all down considering he would just remember it all.

"This place is actually kind of nice you know?" Kitty asked Piotr.

"Da it is Katya." Piotr said to her. "Very quiet and safe place."

Then a girl with green hair with a nametag that said Riley on it came over to them. "Can I help you two out with anything?"

"Um...what kind of drinks do you have?" Kitty asked her.

"Pretty much anything." Riley shrugged. "I could get you an menu if you wanted." Then she looked over at Piotr. "Can I get you something handsome?" She said with a wink. Piotr blushed a little and Kitty saw this and linked her arm with his to enforce that he was taken.

"I think a menu fill be fine." Kitty said a little coldly. Riley smiled nodded and walked off to get on.

**-Meanwhile-**

After stopping by a three-story hotel of shorts with the car and got two separate rooms. Piotr and Kitty had gone to check out some of the places while Rogue and Vincent went to check out a few of the other places that Slayer had suggested before taking off after he gave them directions.

They were at what looked like a one story clinic but it was the hospital for the Town. They walked in and saw someone by the desk. It was a woman about middle age in a white jacket. "ah hello you two must be the X-Men I heard about."

"How did?" Rogue tried to ask but the woman smiled.

"News travels fast in a small town especially big news, I must say that you guys are kind of like celebrities in this Town. I mean I think there's even a fan club at the high school. I'm Stella the nurse, unfortunately Dr. Steven is out on a house call but we do have a few of the others here you can talk to."

"Um...thanks that will beh fahne." Rogue said a little surprised that not only that she knew but also because of a 'fan club' here...that was weird in of itself. They were led to the back with three people there, two were teenagers and another was an adult with blond hair. Rogue tried to think but the teenaged girl and woman looked familiar.

She looked over at Vince and she saw him recognize them from the look in his face. "Do we know them?" She whispered.

"Other realities." He simply said and then it came to her. She recognized the woman as Celeste a mutant healer that had been teaching at the Institute at one of those realities and the eighteen year old brunette that was about average looking looked like a younger version of Marianne Jong. In the reality they had met her she was in charge of a safe house in the Mutant Underground and was a doctor.

"Ah think we shouldn't mention the other reality thing." She whispered to Vincent who seemed to nod his head, that would take too long to explain at the moment...not to mention was pretty out there too and they might not believe it.

"Damn it Foley watch were you put those!" Marianne said glaring at the golden skinned boy.

"I'm sorry alright." He held up his hands, he knew that she wasn't much of a fighter but she was definitely not someone you want to piss off. "It was an accident. Besides I'm only taking this medial training because of my healing powers, I'm not trying to become a doctor like you are."

"Thank God for that, because you'd be hopeless as one." Stella cleared her throat and they all turned to see the new people. "Oh...uh...hi." Marianne said a little embarrassed they had seen that.

"Everyone these are tow members of the X-Men here to see if there is anything their group could do to help out the town." She turned to face Vince and Rogue. "This is Celeste, she's a teacher at the high school and works part time here because of her healing powers. The golden boy is Josh Foley also known as Elixir and has healing powers as well. The last girl if Marianne Jong also known as Fantasy because of her illusion powers. She's actually here training under the doctor to learn more about medicine."

"Hi, ah'm Rogue and this is Vincent."

"Cool! I always wanted to meet you guys! You guys are freaking awesome!" Josh said shaking their hands, while Marianne roller her eyes at his attitude.

Celeste came over to them. "Well I hope you can help us out, getting certain supplies has always been a problem."

"Well what do you need?" Vincent asked getting ready to make mental notes.

Celeste looked a little uncertain. "I'm not sure I'm not a doctor but Marianne practically is though."

Marianne stepped forward. "Now that I can do, I hope you guys got a pen cause I know of a lot of things we could use." She said with a smile on her face. Little did they know they would spend the next hour going through enough inventory to give Vincent a headache and they only got a break when a boy a few years older then Marianne showed up.

His name was Michael Johnson and when those two got together Rogue and Vince watch with little smiles on their faces seeing the two together. They could tell that the two people obvious were in loved and weren't afraid to show it either. Rogue leaned closer to Vincent. "Ah think we should leave them alone, we can meet up with Kitty and Piotr."

"Yeah, plus I'm getting a headache with all the stuff she had me look over." Both teens easily made their way out of the room as the two other were oblivious to the world around them.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 33: NIGHT ON THE TOWN**

**Here are the stories you can see some of the OCs in, and please if you haven't check them out and R&R too.**

**Riley(Chaos) - Chaos Rises by Ranndie Mazda**

**Thomas (Jedi) Larsen – Enter the Knight by Darkness1**

**Jaeger, Jasper, Celeste – Pigs on Wheels by Damn-my-name-was-taken**

**Marianne (Fantasy) Jong & Michael (Gun) Johnson – Mutant Underground series (Just a Girl/Fighting Destiny/Vacation/Shattered Resistance) by BlackRoseApocalypse**

**Mallory (Rue) O'Bryanson – Xman is Australian for Mutants by matt3671**

**Slayer – Evolution of the Heart by Slickboy444**


	33. Night on the Town

mattb3671: No problem with the shout out, I figured this way everyone can see where the OCs came from.

Ranndie Mazda: Glad you liked how I did your character, looking forward to the next chapter.

TheLegendaryManHimself: Yeah it takes place during the summer so far, and I know it's a lot but I also wanted to get a lot of stuff out of the way while they had the free time to do it.

Winblades: Sinister will show up but not Magneto and you'll see what happens in the next chapter.

celtcath74: I don't plan on having an all out battle with those groups, and it will be Magneto's group that attacks.

Slickboy444: I don't remember that Skull Mesa thing, but then again it has been awhile. Look for some Logan/Sarah in this chapter and Sinister will be coming to town and he's bringing friends.

The Uncanny R-Man: I'm glad you liked the idea after all, you'll see other canon characters show up later too.

X00001: I don't think you gave me one, at least I don't remember you doing that so sorry no.

Thanks to: ldypebsaby, Janusi, X00001, Red Witch, Sparky Genocide, LadyDeathStrike1, Aaron, Sparky Genocide, Red Witch, ldypebsaby, Ruby 631

**Disclaimer: The OC Sparky belongs to Sparky Genocide

* * *

**

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 33: NIGHT ON THE TOWN**

**-Crash Pad-**

Later that night after a look around the town Rogue and the others went back to the Crash Pad since Kitty and Piotr had said good things about it and wanted to see how it was at night. The placed looked packed and they saw the same girl Riley there looking a little pissed that she had to work the late shift but she was getting double pay so it wasn't too bad.

"Wow...nice place." Vincent said looking around.

"Told you so." Kitty said smiling and leading them to a table. "I think they got the stage up for tonight some of the local bands are going to play."

Rogue looked out and saw a few familiar faces in the crowd and even a few that Kitty had recognized from their 'trip' awhile back. "Cool you guys are here." They turned to see Josh Foley walking with a small group of people. "I want you guys to meet a few friends of mine, this is Sofia. Her and her mom run a flower shop in town." He said pointing at a pretty brown haired girl.

"This is so cool meeting you guys." Sofia told them. "I mean you guys are so cool and stuff. This is Laurie Collins my best friend." A mousy blond girl smiled shyly at them who also seemed to be hanging around Foley a little closer then normal. "The quiet one is Noriko, don't mind her she's just not much of a people's person."

An Japanese girl with short hair and metallic gloves on her hands had her arms crossed and gave a glare at Sofia but didn't say much.

An African American boy spoke up next. "I'm David Alleyne. Nice to meet you guys but I think we should leave you guys to enjoy the place, don't want to crowd you guys or nothin'."

"Of course not." Kitty told them. "I mean we've loved to hear more about this town and you guys."

"Well only as long as you guys tell us about yourselves." Josh said smiling. "I've always wondered what life as an X-Man was like."

"Not what you think it is ah can tell ya that much." Rogue told him. They spent the better part of an hour talking and comparing stories, after that Rogue and Vincent went to get their drink orders and went to the bar where they saw Riley openly flirting with a white haired kid with glowing blue eyes. Suddenly a crash was heard and Riley shouting. "Damn it Sparky not again!"

"Sorry." Came a voice and when they looked they saw a tall boy over six feet tall, with azure skin, purplish pink short spiky hair and a goatee, red eyes with black pupils. He also had two large, bat-like wings on his back, elf-like ears, a goat-like tail, muscular body, trimmed talons on both of his hands and feet, and had a beak-like mouth. He was quite a sight to the two of them.

Riley placed a gloved hand on her forehead. "It's alright...just clean it up. God love the sweat kid but he's such an accident case, not to mention naïve, and a bit of an odd ball...but he's a sweaty." She said in her British accent.

"Kid?" Rogue asked her looking at him. "How old is he?"

"Fourteen." Riley said and seeing the looks on their face smiled. "I know, he's just big for his age. Hey Sparky get over here, I'll handle that you just get this drink order."

"Alright." He said happily and walked up to them. "What can I get you guys?" They gave him their order, well Vincent mostly because he could remember all the orders accurately enough. "Coming right up." He said happily and shortly came back with a tray with drinks on it. "Here you guys go-oops!" he tripped over his own feet just as he was about to hand them the trey and Rogue was about to get drinks spilled over her.

She flinched but Vince acted with his speed and managed to catch all the drinks and place them on the tray. "That...was too close." He said as he sighed a breath, he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to catch them all.

"Ah'll think ah'll take that." Rogue said to Sparky who looked sheepishly at them. "No offense but ah think it will beh a little safer." They walked back to the larger table they all had moved to with all the people there. Vincent thought he saw something and said he had to go outside for a little bit but that he would be right back.

Vincent walked outside to the street lamp in a slightly chilly night air. He grinned to himself standing in the light. "You can come out I know you're there." From out of the shadows the man only known as Slayer walked into the light.

"Not bad, how long have you've known I've been here?"

Vince turned to face him and leaned back against the pole. "I figured the Elders would want to keep tabs on us. And I swore I saw something in the corner of my vision all day. One of the advantages of a photographic memory is looking back and noticing things you didn't before. I wasn't sure it was you until five minutes ago. That armor is kind of a dead give away."

Slayer grinned. Not many people could impress him even a little. "You out here just to see who was shadowing you?"

"Not really, just wondering why you don't go in and join in with everyone."

"I'm...not a people person." Slayer told him simply.

"That's too bad...you know I've heard a lot about you from this town. A lot of people respect you but they don't really know much about you."

"I don't like to get personal. I prefer to live alone, it's my way."

Vincent considered that. "You know I've also heard that you only come here to check up on things...so if you don't mind me asking if you live a lone and have no home they why are do you care what are you fighting for?"

"For honor." He simply said.

Vincent got a smiled at that. "I get that, very cool. I can respect that since I was brought up in Bushido, I do my best to live up to its teachings. That and I feel honor is the one thing that can't be taken from you."

Slayer nodded his agreement. "I agree, as long as I have my honor that's enough."

Vincent gave him a look and really looked into his eyes and what he saw there he knew that look. After considering everything he got a sad look in his face looking at Slayer. "I feel sorry for you." He started to walk away but Slayer grabbed his shoulder.

"What the hell does that mean?" He asked him sternly.

Vincent sighed and looked at him with a look Slyer never had seen anyone look at him before. "When I look in your eyes I see pain there, I've seen eyes like that in certain people...and in the mirror. I can see you've gone through your own personal hell in your past, most likely in your youth."

"It...wasn't pleasant." Slayer said to him, he didn't like to remember his past, how he had been abused as a child and then how he had been alone.

"I was like you at one point...alone. I had nobody in my life except myself for years. Then one day I was tired of it all, tired of running, of wondering without a purpose. I found a home and friends...and then I knew how alone I truly had been. I know what it's like feeling that emptiness inside you, that hollow feeling that nearly fills your chest and even though it's empty you feel a numbness gnawing at you from that hole."

"My greatest fear is that I'll be alone again...that I'll die alone, unloved, unmoored and unremembered. That is far worse then just death...that is like not even existing at all." Vincent looked to the stars at that point. "When I found out about what friendship was that pain in me is almost long gone now. It also gave my life a sense of meaning."

He looked at the window where he saw Rogue, Kitty and Piotr there having a good time and he smiled. "Honor is great to have in life, but I found it's not everything. You can go through life with honor but still not live, only exist. You see I feel there are two types of people in this world those that live life, those that experience it for the gift it is, and those that just exist in it. Those are the ones that move through life with no purpose never really knowing how to live life to the fullest."

"When I was alone I was just existing in life but when I found a home, friends even a 'family' if you will I started to live life...there was a girl I knew...for her entire life she was enslaved then one day she was freed...a few days later she was...killed." Vincent wiped away a few tears remembering April and how her death still stung. "But you know what I remember the most about her? Her laughter. For those few days she enjoyed her life to the fullest after years of pain and suffering. She touched everyone at the mansion and they'll all remember her."

He touched his temple and then his heart. "Because she'll be remembered and her presence was felt and her presence is missed...in a way she's still alive in each of us." He nodded to the window with his friends. "Because of them I feel alive, that I have something to fight for because of them, they give me strength. I do have my honor but I also have them and I wouldn't give them up for anything."

He looked at Slayer again. "I can understand your need to fight for honor...but I'm telling you there's more to life. At the moment of death when you look back on your life will there be anything you wished for? Anything you regretted not doing? It may be your way and it's your life and I can't tell you how to live it, only you can...but being alone is one of the worse ways to live through life and I know that for a fact."

"Well I've said my peace. I'm going to go back inside with my friends sit by be girlfriend enjoy life and ask her to dance later on when the music is playing, because I don't want to waste this time because if there's one thing I've known is that moments like this can be rare things and should be cherished."

Slayer watched him walk away normally he wouldn't care what someone had said. When he had seen his life with the help of his all seeing eye. He knew that the boy had gone trough some of the same crap he had in life and some ever worse. It was because of the similarities that he chose to listen to this and he couldn't help but a few of his words hit home. He pushed all of that aside he had something to do and he knew he couldn't afford to be distracted.

But deep down he did feel that loneliness...the pain in side that never went away...after this...he would think on those words again but much later...he had work to do.

Vincent got back to the table and sat down next to Rogue and gave her peck on the cheek. "What was that for?" She asked smiling.

He just shrugged and flash her that smile of his. "Because I wanted to and I can and I didn't want to waste the opportunity...besides do I really need a reason?" She just smiled at him and took his hand.

**-X-Jet-**

So far it was night and Sarah was looking at a fire that Logan had got going. It was just a simple one and since they were far from the highway and not too close to the city they didn't have to worry about someone seeing it and finding them, besides it was hard to sneak up on either one of them.

Logan had gone into the jet for certain supplies, whatever they were she wasn't sure but she just looked at the fire and thought. She was thinking about a lot of things recently, she was learning more and more about life and what she had missed out on. She thought about Deborah and looking back on it all she noticed a few things. All the time she had been the easiest on her then the other people at Hydra, and she had seemed concerned for her a few times it was just until now that she knew what concern was. She needed to talk to her again for her to explain herself...she had been thinking a lot about her lately actually.

She had said she was her biological mother, that she had given birth to her...was that why it had hurt so much to hear that she was her mother? She didn't understand why she had been so angry, maybe it was because of all the stories from the others about their mothers that she had expected for her 'mother' to be more like that.

"Hey kid what are ya thinking about?" She turned to see Logan walking back to her. Even though they weren't father and daughter in the true sense...there was a connection between them, a bond as it were and she was glad she had come here. Logan seemed to help her make sense of the world and he was able to help her understand a lot of what she was going through unlike most of the others couldn't. "Just...thinking." She wasn't ready to tell Logan that she had been thinking about seeing her again, especially since she wasn't sure herself.

Logan accepted that and sat down next to her, he looked up at the night sky. "Ya know...I always liked the outdoors...it open and quiet." Sarah nodded, she did lover her home but sometimes all the noises and smells could be a little much at times. She saw him take a long metallic rod with a flat surface and place a few items on it. She saw a gram cracker, chocolate and a marshmallow.

"What are you doing?" She asked him.

He grinned. "Something that all camping trips have...making smores. I figured since you missed out on a lot...and for all I know I did too, I figured if we're stuck out here we might as well try things that families do." She felt good about what he just said. She was just now really starting to think of Logan as family plus it just felt right thinking of him like that. She watched as he melted them all together with the fire and offered her the first piece. She let it cool and she took a cautious bite not sure of how it would taste. It was really good to her surprise and she enjoyed it.

After they ate a few of them Sarah had ended up leaning against Logan her head resting on his shoulder. "Logan...there's something that I've been thinking about...how old are you?"

"Why do ya ask kid?"

"If I got all your powers...does that mean I'll age as slowly as you?"

Logan hadn't considered that. "I'm not sure...you seem to grow at the same age so far...as for me I've been around since the 1940s...I fought in the second world war so if I joined up at Eighteen let's say that would make me at least...over sixty...but I get the feeling I'm older then that, plus I only look like I'm in my thirties."

Sarah thought about that. "That means you'll most likely live to be over a hundred...you'll most likely outlive everyone we know." She said sadly. "If I do start to age like you do...then...I'll outlive everyone I know...I...I don't want that." She said her eyes filling with a few tears. "I like everyone in my life I don't want to lose them all one day."

Logan knew what she meant, he didn't like the idea of himself seeing all the kids grow old and most likely die before him. He placed an arm over her shoulder holding her close. "I know darling I know...I wish there was a way around it...but unfortunately there isn't...look at it this way. You'll have plenty of time with them and you'll make new friends along the way."

"I don't want new friends I like the ones I got."

"I know...I like them too...but you got to face facts that not everyone will be there one day. I know it's not fair and cruel...but you know how hard life can be to someone. I can't promise you it won't hurt...but it will get better in time and I promise I'll be there for you as long as I'm around too." Logan told her.

Sarah didn't like the idea of a future without the others and just leaned into Logan. She was glad that he would be there for her, she only felt safe and comfortable in his arms. "Thanks dad." She didn't mean for the 'd' word to come out it was just a slip she was tired and wasn't sure how comfortable Logan was with that.

"What did you say Sarah?" Logan asked, he wasn't sure if he had heard her right.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean for it to-"

"It's alright." Logan told her. In fact when she had called him that he felt something he never knew what it was, he felt this happiness inside of him when she called him that. "I...I don't mind you callin' me that...if you're comfortable with it. You are my daughter after all."

When he called her daughter she never felt so happy. She felt like at this moment despite how she came into this world he was her family and he was her father. "Okay...I will...father." She settled up next to him and they sat there just enjoying the silence and each other too.

**-Town X, Hotel-**

Kitty and Piotr walked out of the small elevator to the second floor of the three-floor hotel. "This was so fun, I can't like believe this place."

"Da, it is good to be somewhere and not feel hated or an outsider." Piotr agreed. It had been a long time for either of them to just walk around and not have to worry about what people thought of hem. "I am thinking that maybe I should come here for my next vacation." He said with a smile, he was actually only half kidding about that.

Kitty giggled. "Yeah I mean I think everyone will want to come here now and then to get away from the outside world." They walked to her door and stopped at it. "Say...do you want to come in? I'm not tired and I could use someone to talk to since I think Rogue and Vince are most likely still out. Who knew that he could actually get her to dance?"

He smiled at her. "I would be glad to keep you company Katya." She really liked that little nickname he had given her. She opened the door to the modest room with the two beds and got on one of them and patted the spot beside her. Piotr was a little shy about being in the same bed as a girl especially his girlfriend but he did and Kitty snuggled up to you tell me what you life was like? You know...before?" She asked him.

"Why do you want to know?"

She shrugged next to him. "I just do...I want to know more about you personally." He smiled down at her and started to tell her more about his life, his family. She listened to him and absorbed every word of it. It sounded like a nice quiet life that he had, kind of the thing you dream about when things in your life are too hectic for you.

An hour later Rogue and Vincent had returned and they walked along the halls. "Well I don't know about you but I had a great time."

"So did ah." She agreed and it was a nice time too. "Well this is mah stop, ah'll see ya in the mornin' sugar."

He nodded to her. "Goodnight beautiful." Rogue put in her key and opened the door and was surprised to see both Kitty and Piotr in bed only they both looked like they had fallen asleep in each others arms. They looked so peaceful and happy together she didn't want to spoil this for them. She turned off the light and gently closed the door and thought about what to do next.

When Vincent had opened the door and saw no one was inside he ran a hand through his short black hair wondering if Piotr and Kitty were still out. He was about to close the door when Rogue showed up. "Can ah ask ya a favor?"

"Okay sure."

"Can ah spend tha night here?" She asked him a little nervous. This took him by surprise and he gulped a little, he also knew that if Logan knew about this he'd had kittens. "Ya see Piotr and Kitty are in mah room." She saw the look on his face and realized how that must have sounded she gave a little laugh. "Not like that. They fell asleep together and ah didn't want to wake them."

Vincent nodded and let her in. She smiled and nodded her thanks and looked around the room, pretty much like theirs and she looked out the balcony. "God...this day has been lahke perfect ya know?"

He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist and placed his head on her shoulder. "Yeah I know what you mean, it's nice to be accepted again...even I've nearly forgotten what it was like to be treated like a normal person. Plus I'm glad to be here with you too." He gently started to place a few kisses on her neck and she smiled and leaned her head to allow him better access to it and let out a small moan of pleasure. Then she broke away and faced him and looked him in the eyes with a serious expression on her face. "Vincent...ya know ah love ya right?" He nodded. "Do you know why?"

"I've thought about it, but tell me."

She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Ya were the first person that didn't treat meh lahke I was poison, which ah was, ya saw through meh and ya were so kind ta meh at first. Ya didn't judge or were afraid of meh...you just accepted meh as ah was...then ya stuck by meh for over a month not touching meh but still wantin' ta beh with meh...ah think it was then that was the hardest. Ah know we both wanted to touch each other so badly but couldn't but ya stood by meh all through it...you've been there for meh ever step of the way and ah can see how much ya care for me in your eyes. You're a kind and carin' person and ah'm lucky to have ya in mah life."

Vincent placed his hands on her waist and drew here a little closer. "I love you Rogue...I mean you're so strong and companionate even though you don't want to show it. You've got a good heart and a pure soul. You also helped me through some tough times...and you still do. You make my life easier to live, with you I feel at peace in my life and before you I wasn't sure what love felt like. With you in my life I feel like I've found a missing piece to my life that I didn't know that wasn't there...I never want to lose you...I've...I've lost so much in my life that I don't think I could handle it if I lost you of all things."

"Ya won't lose meh." She said softly and pulled herself forward and kissed him. At first their kisses were gentle then more passion was put into them, they could hear the beating of their hearts in their heads as they continued on. Rogue pulled away from him. "Vincent...ah...ah want to spend this night with ya."

He was slightly confused at first but then he caught her meaning. "Oh...are you sure...that, you know...you're ready for this?"

She nodded. "Yeah ah am. Ah want ya to make love ta me tonight...ah don't want to waste this night and ah want this day to beh perfect." He smiled at her and kissed her softly then scooped her up in his arms and she couldn't stop the small laugh at being swept off her feet and she continued to kiss him as he brought her down onto the bed and put her on it. They both laid down and began passionately kissing and exploring each other gently and not too quickly, they wanted to make this moment last.

"Did ya...um....bring protection?" She asked him through their kisses.

"Yeah, after that talk with Scott, which by the way was way to uncomfortable for either of us and both of us really don't want to go through that again, I started carrying in my wallet after that." He told her. She smiled and got on top of him as his hands went up inside her shirt and she felt his hands on her smooth skin.

She couldn't believe she was actually going to do this, it wasn't long ago she had pretty much accepted the fact she would never know another person's touch yet here she was with the boy she loved doing something she had feared she would never would be able to do. For so long she had been afraid that she would have to go through life without love of any kind physical or emotional. Was she glad she was wrong about that.

She caressed his upper body feeling the muscles from years of physical training and kissed him at the same time. He sat up and she went up with him and he pulled of her shirt revealing the black bra she had gotten and he traced a line of kisses from her lips down her neck to her color bone. She moaned at the sensation. She began tugging his shirt off and took it off him and she looked seeing the muscular build with a hint of the few scares on his shoulder and the one at his side. The tattoo on his chest plain to see. She noticed how he seemed a little sensitive when she looked at the scars. She remembered how he always thought no girl would want to see those on him and figured that it would turn off any girl if he got to this stage.

She just smiled at him placing her hands on his face getting him to look at her eyes and show him that she didn't care. When he saw her eyes a smile grew on this face as they continued on. "I love you Marie." He said softly and she kissed him deeply.

"Ah love ya too."

**-Savage Land-**

Sinister was in the Seeker room at the moment so far while he was looking for any possible mutants for their growing forces something had happened. There was a small area that seemed for a moment to have many mutant signatures but it had vanished. Now he was focusing on that area now and then wondering if it was a glitch. The Seeker was still not at one hundred percent and things like this could happen.

But then it happened again. Many mutants suddenly appeared and he focused on that area, there were a lot of minds in that area even some humans too. He marked down the coordinates and went for a deeper scan when the area went blank again. He growled in frustration and got out of the chair and took off the helmet. This was an interesting little mystery.

He was going to go to Magneto and report this but thought against that. It was late and he had plans to make, but in the morning he was going to report this and he was going to organize an Acolyte party to investigate this. He thought about which members would be perfect to go and walked out of the dark metallic chamber back into his labs. He didn't really need to sleep anymore so he figured he could keep himself busy for now.

One of the things he had learned over the long life span he had was patience. So he would plan out first then when morning broke he would ready himself to see what was going on at that place. Whatever its secrets would soon be his.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 34: SOMETHING SINISTER THIS WAY COMES**


	34. Something Sinister This Way Comes

Aaron: I'm glad you liked all the OCs and I got no sparing matches in this story arc maybe in another. I haven't thought of any other name for the Protectors of Town X.

ViciousAssassin: Glad you liked it all and there will be a little in the beginning but you know how it will end.

Mattb3671: Unfortunately took off the fic Sparky was from (which sucks that they did that) I have no idea what the 'joanie luvs chachi' remark was about.

Gulogirl: I know what you mean that's why I try to make him interesting, did I say WW1 I mean WW2. I'll try and fix that thanks for pointing that out. Yeah more RoLo later on, in fact I plan on those two hooking up.

LadyDeathStrike1: Glad you liked the campfire thing, and I'm also glad no one seems to mind Vincent and Rogue getting intimate.

Erich: Nice thought but they're on a mission maybe later on when they return to the town. And you have no idea how right you were with that stuff you sent me and don't worry I will let them enjoy it.

Ruby631: Well I didn't just want them to jump in the sack at the first opportunity, I wanted them to have a meaningful relationship first.

TheLegendaryManHimself: Yeah might as well have it now before the town gets trashed and Sinister and the Acolytes show up.

Winblades: He's just a guy of honor and you'll have to ask Slickboy444 since it's his character. Only Scott can hurt him for some reason.

Tidal wave: Geez a little harsh, if you don't like my stories then fine don't read them then.

Slickboy444: I'm glad you liked that scene I wasn't sure at first, and for the Sarah/Logan scene I'm happy you enjoyed it so much. Believe me the big battle coming is going to be something. I also hope no one things I went a little to far on the scene with Rogue and Vince at the end, I know it could have gone farther but this is only a PG-13 story.

The Uncanny R-Man: Yeah Sinister has a knack for ruining things.

Sparky Genocide: Actually I hope you don't mind me changing a few things, like Gambit not being related to Sinister, the eyes are just a coincidence but when Sinister comes to town lets say it's a reunion that he won't like. It's going to be a mixed team that goes to the town.

Thanks to: fireinu, Ranndie Mazda, ldypebsaby, X00001, Red Witch

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 34: SOMETHING SINISTER THIS WAY COMES**

She felt something warm against her face and that was the first sensation she had felt, then someone brushing her bangs out of her face and she felt and heard breathing. She slowly opened her eyes and found that she was on someone bare chest and not just anyone's either. She saw the morning daylight coming in through the large glass door that led to the small balcony and then saw a pair of light blue eyes looking at her. "Morning."

Rogue smiled and hugged him closer. "Mornin'...what tahme is it?"

"Almost eight in the morning...how are you feeling?" He asked her.

She stretched a little. "A little sore in a few places...but nice though. God ah can't believe we actually did that." She smiled to herself resting her head on his chest.

"Second thoughts?"

"Hell no." She said looking up at him. "Last night was perfect." She kissed him on the lips to show him that and he kissed back. After last night's...activities, Vincent had offered her his T-shirt to sleep in then just her bra and panties for the night. He was only in his cotton pants but she had slept well anyway, in fact she slept great. "How long have ya been up?"

"About an hour, I didn't want to wake you." He said his smile still on his face.

She looked at him for a minute. "Ya tellin' meh ya have been awake just lookin' at me for an hour? Ah thought ya had a photographic memory?"

He just shrugged a little. "What can I say? You just looked so peaceful and beautiful I couldn't stop looking." She rested her head back on his chest, he could be so sweet sometimes she knew and sighed just listening to her breath. He stroked her hair and breathed in the scent of it, he loved the smell of her hair, hell he loved a LOT of things about her.

Then Rogue pushed off the bed a little. "Oh hell ah forgot about that." She said mainly to herself as a certain thought hit her.

"We did use protection Rogue remember?" He told her.

"No not that. Kitty! Oh god when she wakes up and sees that she's there with Piotr and ah'm not there..." She let him fill in the rest.

"Ah crap." He muttered. "Well...we'll get dressed and tell her you took the other bed, hopefully she'll buy that."

She laid back down on the bed on her back to his left and looked up at the ceiling. "Ah hope so." She really didn't want Kitty to know about last night, there was no way she would keep her mouth shut with that kind of gossip, then again she figured she could use the fact that she and Piotr sleep in each other's arms against her. Sure those two didn't have sex, but then again that was almost as bad.

Vincent got up and kissed her forehead. "I'm going for a shower."

She grinned to herself. "Want some company?"

Vincent stopped in his tracks and considered that. "Maybe another time, we already used up both of my condoms last night."

"Why did ya carry two anyway? I little ambitious ain't ya?" She said smiling playfully at him.

"Hey I didn't hear you complain." He joked and she had to laugh at that, it was true she didn't complain. "Besides...the other one was a spare just in case."

After awhile in the next room Kitty was slowly waking up. She felt warm and a feeling of peace for some strange reason. She remembered how she and Piotr were talking then...her eyes widened as she felt an arm around her waist and looked up into the peaceful face of Piotr. She gasped and shot up the sudden movement and gaps cause Colossus to wake up with a start and he too realized that he was in Kitty's bed and that it was morning.

Both teens blushed and Kitty noticed Rogue wasn't there. "Oh no...where's Rogue?" She asked Piotr and he looked over at the empty bed.

"Maybe she is with Vincent?"

Kitty nodded and got up but stopped herself. It didn't really hit her fully that she and Piotr had just spent the night together like that. It had been nice. She leaned over him and kissed him lightly. "For last night." She said blushing a little. "Thanks for staying with me...it was nice...and uh...I promise I won't say anything, you know how some people might think if we said we spent the night in the same bed."

He nodded his head. "Da, and Logan would love to see if could skin me with his claws when I am in my metallic form." Kitty giggled at that.

"Well I'm going to see if Rogue slept in Vincent's room." She told him and she phased through the wall. She saw the same generic room as hers as Rogue getting up from the bed. "Like there you are." She saw Rogue jump and Kitty realized that Rogue was in her underwear and in a shirt a little large for her. It also was definitely not Rogue's since it said Toronto Maple Leafs on it.

"What was that?" She heard Vince say and walk out of the bathroom in just a towel. She gasped when she saw him covered her eyes and he ducked back in. "Kitty! Don't you ever use a door?" He yelled from the small room.

"I am so totally sorry." Kitty said removing her hand and then she noticed only one of the beds were slept in and then looked at Rogue. She seemed both pissed and...embarrassed. "Oh...my...god. Oh man I am like so totally sorry guys. I'll uh, I'll leave you two alone." She said blushing madly and ran back through the wall before Rogue could say anything.

Rogue sighed and sat down on the bed. "Well that's it...Kitty will most likely is talking to Piotr about this." She said to Vincent.

He came back out and scratched the back of his head. "So...now what?"

"Ah don't know." Rogue huffed and stalked to the shower. "Ah'm goin' ta take a shower, can ya get my bag from Kitty's room?"

"Sure thing." He told her as he got dressed in new clothing. By the time he was going out the door she was already in the shower and for a minute a part of him thought about taking a little look, but he pushed that aside. He already got a good look at her and besides he had other things to do. He walked over to the next room and knocked. He really wasn't looking forward to this, he knew this was going to be awkward. Piotr opened the door and both teens just looked at each other. "Uh...hey."

"Uh....good morning."

'Oh yeah, awkward.' Vincent thought to himself, both of them knew exactly what each of them did and both knew that Logan wouldn't be pleased. "Tell you what, I won't way anything if you don't and Logan won't skin us alive for 'taking advantage' of the girls. Deal?"

"Da, that is a good idea." He let him in and Vince looked to see Kitty there on the bed with a huge grin on her face, he palmed his face and sighed.

"So...you and Rogue huh?" She said in a happy go lucky tone.

"Kitty..." Vincent sighed out then looked at her.

"Oh don't worry I'm not like going to say anything, if I did Rogue would say that, well, that you know." She said blushing at what had happened with her.

Vince nodded. "Yeah okay, by the way Rogue wants her clothing to change into while she's showering."

"Oh right." She got up and picked up a travel bag. "I'll give it to her." He was about to giver her his room key when she went through the wall.

"Right...you'd think I would remember that." He said to himself then she popped her head out the wall.

"Oh don't wait up, me and Rogue are going to have breakfast and talk, you boys go on without us." Then she pulled her head back.

'Oh god...' He thought and hung his head. 'She's going to talk Rogue's ear off...and I know enough to know I don't want to know what they're going to talk about...what else could happen?' He snapped his head up. 'Well...that was a dumb thing to even think about, now of course it will get worse.'

**-Savage Land-**

Sinister had just finished talking with Magneto and he had agreed that sending a team was a wise choice. Sinister was walking the metallic halls with the Acolytes. Currently Juggernaut, Omega Red, Sabertooth, Morbius and Psi-co were in this group as well as Lance in a new uniform. It was like his old one only with black and red colors on it. Toad was also in a new uniform with a brown trench coat, combat boots dark jeans and a dark green shirt. Blob was wearing a pair of black baggy pants a red shirt and dark jean jacket like his older one.

Pietro couldn't have been found, off chasing some girl apparently, and Legion and Pyro were looking into some new recruits, with the a few other new Acolytes. "So where are we goin' yo?" Toad asked hopping along.

"Well I don't know about you but I tire of traveling in those damn spheres. So we're taking a new mode of transport." Sinister told him.

"Really? What?" Fred asked him. They came to a large steel door that opened for them and they saw a hanger with many large and impressive aircraft. He walked up to one that looked like a heavily modified stealth bomber.

"I call this...the Dark Wing." Sinister said proudly. "As you can see it's a modified B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, the stealth technology is even more advanced then the Air Force uses and can penetrate any known detection devices even by groups like SHIELD. It is capable of all-altitude attack missions up to 60,000ft, that's actually 10, 000 more then the normal version, and with a range of more than 9,000nm unrefuelled and more than 13,000nm with one refueling, given the new power plant I put in it. It has the ability to fly to any point in the world within hours." He grinned at that.

The ship has the capacity to carry up to 40,000lb of weapons, including conventional and nuclear weapons, although the nukes aren't loaded...yet. It has a precision-guided munitions, gravity bombs and a range of maritime weapons and a few of my own 'special' ones too." He grinned. "Well all aboard then, Cain, Mr. Dukes, you will have to stay in the cargo area given your size."

Juggernaut just grunted. "Whatever." He simply said and walked up the ramp.

"Shotgun!" Toad shouted and jumped up the ramp before anyone else could.

**-Town X-**

Rogue had been dragged to a small café for breakfast as they sat outside waiting for their order to come. Rogue had changed into a black Linkin Park T-shirt and shorts while Kitty had gone back for her clothes when the guys had left and was now in a skirt and button shirt with no sleeves. "So...how was it?" Kitty asked with the biggest grin Rogue had ever seen on her. She palmed her face and groaned into it. "Oh come on Rogue, besides Jean you're like the only other girl to have sex...I mean I'm just curious...was he good?"

"Kitty!"

"I'm sorry." She laughed at her best friend's reaction. "I had to ask, I mean...doesn't it like hurt the first time and stuff?"

Rogue sighed and stirred her coffee with one of those little plastic sticks that she could never remember what they were called. "Well...at first a little...but it's not as bad as other people make it sound...plus...he was gentle."

"I bet he cuddled too." She giggled. "He's like so the type."

Rogue blushed. "Yeah he is, but ah lahked that part too. Ah still can't believe we finally gone that far."

"Yeah I wonder who won the pool." Kitty wondered.

"Pool?! Ya guys _bet_ on when we would sleep together? Ah don't believe this...on second thought ah do." Rogue grumbled. "Remind meh ta start one about you and Piotr when we get back."

"Hey!"

"Serves ya right...now about you and Piotr." Rogue grinned turning the conversation back to her and she enjoyed watching Kitty squirm at the moment. "Exactly how close are you two?"

"Well...closer then I was with Lance...but not apparently as close as you two are...although..." Kitty drifted off. She had been having a few 'interesting' dreams lately like last night and to be honest if she was going to give up her virginity to someone she didn't have any problems with it being with Piotr, although he was too nice and shy to most likely start things so she would have to take it slow with him, she didn't want to scare him off or something. That and she wasn't sure if she was ready yet.

Rogue studied her for a moment. "Kitty if you are thinking about this let meh give ya some advice. First off, talk ta him about this and see how he feels about it. Secondly you both should be prepared, that means condoms for him and birth control for ya, I get mine from Hank as does Jean, considerin' that some mutants metabolisms are different then normal peoples."

She didn't like the idea of going to Hank with that, even though she knew he was kept Jean's use a secret but she knew Rogue made sense. "Yeah I like guess that we both should get ready I mean I like him and all but I don't want to get pregnant this young because I was like so totally stupid about it."

Rogue nodded her head. "That's smart."

Kitty smiled and took a sip of her own coffee. "Just out of curiosity...how long have you wanted to go all the way with him?"

Rogue sighed and considered it, she knew Kitty enough to know she never liked to let stuff like this go. "This stays between us, you tell no one, not Danielle not even Lockheed ya got that?" Kitty nodded and leaned in. Rogue blew out a breath. "Remember when ah first got control over mah powers? Well when ah was kissing him for hta first tahme there was nothing more then what ah wanted then ta have us rip each other's clothes off then and there."

Kitty was surprised by that revelation. "Wow...what stopped ya?"

"Common sense, that and...ah wasn't sure if mah powers were permanently under control, ah mean what if we were intimate and then ah no long had control? Ah didn't want mah first time with someone to end up killing them while...you know..." Rogue got a little quiet at that point as she looked into her coffee. "I still am afraid of the Kitty..." She flexed her ungloved hand and looked at it then to her friend fear and sadness in her eyes. "What if ah go back to that one day? Ah don't think ah'm strong enough ta go through that again, it was so hard to just date him for over a month not bein' able ta touch him, ah spent nearly _three_ long years without bein' able to enjoy a single touch...ah don't want ta go through that again..."

Kitty took he friend's hand in hers. "That will like not happen Rogue, Hank said this was permanent and you have to believe that."

Rogue smiled a little. "Thanks Kitty."

"Like anytime, besides you deserve to be happy now after everything, I mean you are right? You've seemed to be a lot happier ever since you got your powers under control."

She nodded. "Yeah ah guess ah have...but can ya blame me?"

"No I can't and I'm happy that you're well...happy." Kitty said smiling then a grin formed on her face. "Especially after last night by the way you're glowing."

Rogue swatted her arm. "Ah am not! God can't we talk about something other then sex? I bet the boys aren't."

"Yeah right, I bet they're having the same conversation as we are." Kitty said rubbing where Rogue had hit her, ever since she got that new strength Kitty forgot she hit a lot harder now. A few black away in restaurant Colossus and Mayhem were talking over pancakes.

"So is paining hard or is it like drawing?" Vincent asked the slightly older Russian boy.

He shrugged. "It depends on the person but it can be difficult, you thinking of trying it?"

"Maybe, I might give it a try since you side you used to do that a little back home right?"

Piotr nodded. "Da...what do you think the girls are talking about?"

Vince nearly laughed. "Trust me you don't want to know."

**-Later-**

The four of them were in the Elder's hall again facing the three Elders of the town. Fiona was smiling as well as Callahan and Steward was scowling with his arm folded. They took this as a good sign. "Well we have deliberated and we agree there are benefits to expanding our contact on the outside work to Xavier. However we want to make clear that the location of this town be kept guarded as best you can."

"We understand." Rogue told her. "And we have a list made up of medical supplies we might beh able ta gather for ya too."

Callahan smiled. "That's wonderful I'm sure the doc will love to hear that." Just then Slayer barged his way into the meeting. "What's going on here? Slayer you better have a good reason for this."

He looked at the Elders. "They're here." He said seriously then turned to Steward. "Get he Protectors ready...evil has come to this town and they'll burn it to the grown if we don't stop them."

"We'll help too." Rogue said.

Fiona nodded. "We could use the help most of our Protectors haven't had actual combat experience, Steward?"

Steward had his eyes closed as he use telepathy to contact the Protectors, his eyes snapped open. "They're on their way...and I guess we could use them...just stay out of the way."

**-Over Town X-**

The Acolytes in the Dark Wing flew over the valley of the town. All the sensors said there was nothing there, well the normal sensors that this thing was equipped with. When he used the enhanced imaging system all he got was nothing and that's what got Sinister's interest. The sensors should have picked up something to say the least but all it read was nothing, like the entire area didn't exist. 'Well now that is interesting.' He mussed to himself.

"Alright I'm taking us down boys. Get ready." He told them.

"Ready for what?" Lance said looking out the window. "Hostile dessert lizards?" Then as they got closer they came threw the Shroud and the entire town was laid open to them. "Whoa." Lance said looking around the place. "Okay...I stand corrected."

"Indeed." Sinister said with a cruel grin on his face. He set the aircraft down in what looked like a drive in movie theatre, one of the few most likely still around in this world although it was in good shape. The hatch opened and they all walked out. Sinister walked out in front of the group and saw people start to scatter and run from them. "Well...let's introduce ourselves to the town folk." A few of the more bloodthirsty of the Acolytes grinned and couldn't wait for that as they marked into the streets.

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**NEXT UP CHAPTER 35: SHOWDOWN IN TOWN X

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**PLEASE:** Also please read and review for You Can't Run On Ice by little miss tiny shoes it's a great story in the R section and deserves more attention. Also for you Star Wars fans I recommend A Shattered Galaxy An After NJO Saga by Tsavong-Lah, it takes place a few hundred years after the movies and books but trust me it's a great read. I also have to wonder what ever happened to xmanfan...oh well.


	35. Showdown in Town X

ViciousAssassin: Remember that the town is full of mutants some of which will not stand by and let these guys just walk in. I think it's just Scott's power that can hurt Sinister, and yeah those two will show up to help out the town.

Erich: They'll most likely give an earlier call to Logan as a heads up, and yeah those two will know what Jean and Scott go through, yeah things will get ugly, real ugly. Damn…that was a long time ago. I don't think she did. Mainly Xavier, Logan and Beast then Rogue from the memories then everyone else.

TheLegendaryManHimself: Yeah I'm kind of a wild west fan especially the Clint Eastwood ones. Glad you liked the morning after part, and the Kitty/Rogue interaction. Yeah it was kind of a little homage to the Ultimate books with that.

Winblades: She was once a team leader in the books and I wanted to bring that in here, also you _will_ see the battle this chapter trust me on this one.

Darkness1: I may skip the sparing matches for this story but I plan to bring them back here again in a short fic. I hope you like the big brawl. I listed the OCs that are from stories a few are just made up ones and Sparky Genocide's story was pulled. Also I hope you realize this was 6th in a series but I understand if you just read this for Jedi.

Slickboy444: Yeah major fight chapter is here, if there aren't any more Logan/Sarah moments in this you can bet there will be in the other AGU stories. I want to work on the Kitty/Piotr thing more, get the more comfortable with each other before they go that far.

The Uncanny R-Man: Kitty and Vince deserve each other? Huh? Yeah she does seem the gossip type and you bet the fight will be cool.

Ruby631: I've heard of that but I don't get any channels that get Adult Swim,

Thanks to: Mattb3671, Red Witch, ldypebsaby, X00001, Damn-my-name-was-taken

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**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 35: SHOWDOWN IN TOWN X**

Rogue, Kitty, Piotr, Vincent and Slayer were off at a dead run to where the trouble was going on. Sure Rogue and Vince could have flown there but she wanted the team to stick together on the way she pulled out her cell phone and called up Logan. "Logan, we got trouble! Get here as fast as ya can!"

At the X-Jet Logan tensed up; he knew something was going to happen nothing was ever easy. "Alright, do you know what's the problem is?" He asked running outside to find Sarah.

"Don't know only that apparently the town's been invaded or something, just hurry." She said on the other line.

"Alright hang in there." He turned the phone off and looked and saw Sarah outside doing some meditation. It was one of the things he was teacher her that he did at times to loosen up and to help keep his more aggressive side of his nature under wraps. "Sarah! Get your butt in here, the others need us!" She immediately jumped up and made a dead run to the jet. He couldn't help but be impressed by her reflexes but had no time to think on that, they had work to do.

Back in the town Sinister and his group were walking down one of the main streets. "Interesting place." Sinister said looking at the town.

"Yeah reminds me of one of those shows like The Andy Griffin Show." Toad said hopping along then stopped when he noticed the looks he was getting. "What? I like Ron Howard." The townspeople scattered seeing them.

Sabertooth sniffed the air and growled. "I think there are humans here as well as mutants but I can't be sure."

"There are." Psi-co said grinning. "I've been reading their minds, this whole town is a goody two shoes town with humans and mutants living in harmony and all that crap. We may have to do a little spring cleaning."

Sabertooth grinned. "I like that thought."

Just suddenly an elderly lady seemed to shimmer in front of them. "I am Sophia one of the Elders of this town, you are _not_ welcome here."

Sister grinned showing his sharp teeth. "Well my dear lady we're here to offer your people a choice. To be part of the greatness that is to come."

Sophia scowled at him. "Greatness is not what I would call what you offer. This is a town of peace and we will not tolerate you or join in Magneto's mad dreams."

"Hey how did she know who we worked for?" Lance asked his team.

"Because young man we're not out of touch, I recognized a few of you from the news and our own telepaths managed to tell us who you are, at least until they fell to the ground screaming." She glared at them.

"Oops." Psi-co said chuckling. "I meant to give them seizures but I can fix that if they try that again."

Sinister stepped up right in front of her towering over the woman. "Well if you are not with us, then you're against us. I know that sounds cliché but nothing else describes it so well." He went to grab her but his hand passed through her, he raised an eyebrow. "Interesting, astral projection."

Sophia smiled at up at him. "You really thought I would be stupid enough to show myself in person? Besides this may be a town of people who just want to live in peace." Her face darkened as she glared at them all. "But we will defend ourselves."

"You and what army lady?" Toad shouted. "Heh, I always wanted to say that yo."

"This one." She said ginning and faded away and behind her was the Protectors. In the lead was a man in just past twenty with brown hair and a jeans jacket shirt. "The name is Michael also known as Gun. This here is Panzer." He gestured to the blond haired Jaeger. " That's her brother Jasper." The tall winged, multi-eyed boy nodded. "That's Jedi." A black clad figure seemed to ready himself for a fight as his eyes glowed blue from the eyeholes in his mask.

"That's Fantasy." Marianne Jong and plain looking girl in a black bodysuit glared at them, Michael hated the fact his girlfriend was out here mainly because she never could get the fighting part down but he knew she wouldn't sit by and let their town be overrun. "That's there's Rue." Mally the red furred kangaroo type mutant was bobbing up and down in a kilt his dreadlocks all behind his head, as he was getting ready for a fight. "And those are Venus and Damien." The last two members the girl blue hair and black highlights with wings on her back and her boyfriend with his long black hair tied behind his head.

Sinister regarded them for a moment before speaking. "That's it? That's what you're going to throw at us?" He turned to the others. "Let's teach these mutants just how out of their league they are shall we?"

"Fine with me." Juggernaut said walking forward and cracking his knuckles.

Rogue and the others ran onto the scene and saw nothing but carnage the town Defenders were trying their best against the Acolytes but weren't doing so well mainly due to Juggernaut. "Vince, Piotr try ta deal with Juggernaut." She told them they both nodded and went off after him.

"I'll go too." Slayer said and went off before she could say otherwise.

Rogue looked to Kitty. "We got to help out where we can and keep any civilians out of this." Kitty nodded and ran with her down the street.

Mally was squared off against Toad seeing the slightly slimy and smelly kid jumping around he figured it would be nice to see who had the better legs. He jumped in front of him. "Hello mate." He said in his Australian accent. "Mind o'little challenge?"

"Hey man no one can beat me!" Toad jumped at him but Mally easily jumped over Toad. "Hey! No fair yo!" He shot out his tongue out at Mally but he dodged it and leaped inside his attack and kicked Toad sending him flying.

"Now that was rippa!" Mally said feeling proud of his first victory.

"Heads up kangaroo-boy!" He turned to see Lance, he used his powers to create and Earthquake that had him trouble standing. Mally fell to the ground unable to balance himself. Then felt himself being lifted up as something cold wrapped around him. He looked and saw a scary looking pale man in red armor and blond hair sneer at him with a tentacle wrapped around him.

"Pathetic." Omega Red said in his heavily Russian accent. He threw Mally through a window. He hit hard against the counter of the shop but his body had a shield around his body, but it wasn't perfect and he did feel the impact. He wasn't as hurt as he could have been but he did groan as he got up.

"This hero thing isn't as it seems on the tele." He muttered as he tried to get back out.

Jedi had seen Avalanche take down one of his teammate and charged him enhancing his speed with his energy. He could use his energy to enhance his physical abilities and telekinetic abilities too. It worked like the Force in those Star Wars movies he loved and was why he took the name Jedi as a codename. He did a flying kick to Lance's back and sent him flying into Omega Red. The Russian wasn't phased but Lance did feel fine hitting the bigger mutant and was dazed and aching from the kick. Omega Red growled at the little boy and marched forward.

Venus was flying and sending out energy bolts while Damien was blowing up anything he could to slow them down. Rogue had flow in and was wrestling with Blob. "You're…a…lot stronger." Fred grunted out as their hands were locked in a grappling hold.

Rogue had to admit she loved her new strength, she finally felt like she could take care of her own but she still had her other powers although she didn't like to use them she grinned at him. "Ya forgot mah original power Fred." Fred was wide eyed as he noticed her hands weren't gloved and he wasn't wearing anything on his hands. For years he had never seen her without gloves and he never had to check before. Her grip intensified as she started to absorb him until he passed out.

Sinister, Psi-co, and Sabertooth on the other hand were having trouble. When the fight started they found themselves in a fantasy world. There were bizarre creatures all around them. What they were experiencing was Marianne's power; she had the power of illusions and was holding it on as best she could. "Anne watch out!" Michael called out to her. She saw Juggernaut coming after her and tried her powers on him but they didn't seem to be working.

Michael grabbed some pebbles and rocks and with his power they launched like bullets at him but they bounced harmlessly off his armor. Michael wanted to shout out once more fearing that his girlfriend and the love of his life was going to get seriously harmed or worse killed when a blur hit Juggernaut and he staggered back.

He saw Vincent in front of him. "You!"

Mayhem grinned that predatory grin of his. "You want a shot at the title big man?" He said refereeing to how they fought and he lost the last time they met.

"You're little girlfriend won't help you out now." He sneered at him.

"No…but I got a few friends who would like to say hello." He said not flinching and Piotr walked up armoring up as Slayer pulled out his huge mystic sword from his back.

Marianne breathed a sigh of relief but Sinister and Psi-co had had enough of this and they both focused their minds tracing the source of this back and sent a mental assault at her. She screamed as she grabbed her head and fell to her knees. Michael was at her side immediately. He heard a roar as Sabertooth was charging towards them but a few garage cans hit him from the air their contents scattering all over him and around him.

He looked up to see Jasper flying over him. "You little punk! You think that's funny?" He yelled out trying to see if the kid would fly low enough for him to jump up and rip his wings off.

"No." He turned to see a blond girl. This was Jaeger, Jasper's twin sister also known as Panzer. "He's just giving me ammo to use against you kitty cat man." He snarled at her but she activated her powers, which was the ability to blow up anything the size of a football, and with all that garbage on and around him Sabertooth was soon covered in explosions.

Mayhem and Colossus were doing their best against Juggernaut. Vince was dodging easily and countering Pietro wasn't as fast unfortunately. In his metal form he was incredibly strong and durable but he was slow and Juggernaut had hit him with a wild punch sending him through the wall of a building. Slayer had gotten behind him and tried an overhand slash but to his utter surprise it bounced off his armor. In fact he hit so hard the vibrations cause him to drop the sword from the pain of holding it. "What the hell?!" He used his Eye to see what this man was.

He didn't like what he saw. He was mystically enhanced to be sure but from what? Then he saw it…Ruby Gem of Cyttorak. Said to be formed from a deity by the magic of The Ancients. It was the knowledge of The Ancients that was also how his sword was said to be created and that posed a problem. Since Juggernaut couldn't break his sword but it also meant his sword wouldn't get through the armor.

"It's never easy." He muttered as he gathered up some energy to increase his strength having to go at it the old fashioned say.

Jedi was having trouble with Omega Red; the man was like no other warrior he had ever met, the man was focused and ruthless. He floated up high dodging another of those damn tentacles. He got one of those things wrapped around him once and he got a lot of pain as the things started to drain his life energy, and for him that wasn't good. Without his energy he would be too weak to stand a chance.

"Come down here and fight little boy." The Russian said to him.

"I'll have to admit you're one tough warrior." Jedi admitted.

"Warrior? HA! I am Omega Red! I am a living weapon! I am death manifested!" To prove his point he picked up a car and threw it at the mutant from Norway but the vehicle glowed blue as he used his telekinetic powers to stop it and send it back but with his tentacles he ripped it to shreds and leaped at him. Jedi levitated himself higher but his ankle was caught by one of the metal tentacles and Omega Red slammed him into the ground.

Jedi groaned as Omega Red started to walk over him smiling. He planned on ripping the boy's head right off. But one green haired girl had been watching. Riley had been walking to school when this had all gone down and had snuck a look. When seeing Tommy go down like that she had to do something. Her eyes glowed purple and aimed her hands and fired a green energy blasts to the back of Omega Red's head.

He staggered forward and turned to glare at the girl but she continued firing no matter how scared she was. He took the shots and slowly walked forward. Venus had seen this and flew overhead and added her own energy blasts. "That will not harm me!" He shouted but he started to glow blue and was lifted up in the air and flew back across the street. Jedi was panting from the load he had to lift and nodded his thanks to the girls.

It was at that moment the X-Jet roared overhead buzzing the battleground and landed not to far away. Logan and X23 in full combat gear ran down the ramp and into the battle. Sabertooth who had been healing after those explosives found himself facing X23. "Well if it ain't the mini-runt. Think you're as bad as your old man kid."

"Don't call me kid." She growled out and extended her hand and feet claws and jumped at him with a kick that was also a swipe at him with one of the claws. It cut him across the chest and he roared at the girl and jumped onto her but she grabbed the collar of his jacket and fell onto her back planted a foot onto his chest and used his momentum to thrown him onto his back.

She leaped up back to her feet smirking at Creed as he got up and glared at her.

Venus was doing well until the Morbius the living vampire flew up and grabbed her wings. She cried out as she fell to the ground hurt. He turned her onto her back and see looked up in terror as the pale faced young man with a mane of dark hair and bat-like nose, his eyes hidden behind dark shades and watched in horror as his mouth opened wide revealing large fangs and she knew what he was planning.

"I don't think so!" Mally said leaping in and kicking Morbius. The mutant vampire was sent flying but stopped in mid air and floated down. He growled at Mally baring his fangs and his black claw-like fingernails.

"I'm going to drink you dry furball." Morbius hissed.

"Leave him alone!" Venue shouted, normally a nice girl but when you threatened her friends she was someone you wouldn't want to face.

"You going to stop me girlie?"

"No, I am!" Morbius turned to see her boyfriend Damien and with his power blew up Morbius' shades. He howled in pain from both the shrapnel but that would heal. It was the light of day that was blinding him and he fell to his knees holding his hands to his eyes blinded and out of the fight.

Logan was battling it out with Sinister and was clawing him up but he kept on healing and then blasting Logan, and of course he healed from those. 'This could take awhile.' Logan thought to himself and he stabbed him in the leg and he cried out in pain but elbowed Logan in the head.

Rogue and Piotr had teamed up to fight Omega Red and Lance was looking for someone to take his anger out on but when he turned around he wasn't prepared to face her. He stopped when he saw Kitty looking at him. "What are you doing here?" They both asked at the same time.

"What do you like think? We're here to make contact with these people and you're here trashing the place!" Kitty shouted at him.

"Grow up Kitty. The world will never except us, Xavier's dream is pure fantasy."

"You idiot look around you!" Kitty snapped. "This whole town is proof that the Professor's dream _is_ possible. Here mutants and humans live in peace."

"One town in a whole world won't do anything Kitty." Lance told her. "Magneto may be extreme but he's building a nation for us, he's making a place were _all_ mutants can feel safe."

"Yeah under _his_ rule. Everyone that isn't with him is against him Lance. Please don't do this." She begged.

Lance shook his head. "And do what? Join you guys? Been there done that and I don't belong. I'm not like you guys and I don't believe in Xavier either…I'm sorry Kitty but you know I wouldn't work out there…just like our relationship." He said sadly.

"It wasn't all bad you know." She said softly.

He nodded. "I know and I'll treasure those moments…but our time has come and gone Kitty, it was nice but we never would have lasted." He turned around and walked away from her. "Next time…we'll be enemies…so…please…don't get in my way, I don't want to fight you…"He said before leaving her standing there but she snapped out of it hearing someone cry out and saw someone partially buried in some debris and went to get them out.

Riley was watching things and thought maybe it was time to find a new place to be and when she started to move bumped into someone. She turned and gasped at the sight of a red headed boy with his hair in a ponytail, in a long black leather jacket with chains and studded leather. Psi-co grinned at her. "Well aren't you a pretty little thing." She was lifted up into the air her arms and legs being pulled so she was in a spread eagle position in the air. "I wonder if you're a screamer?" He 'pulled' on her limbs and she screamed feeling like they were going to be ripped from their sockets.

"Leave her alone!" Jedi yelled out and flung something as Psi-co hitting him in the ribs and causing him to drop Riley.

"Oh, that's it." Psi-co said seeing the mutant readied himself into a fighting position. "Sorry I don't fight like that." She sent a psychic blast into his mind and Thomas cried out in pain and crumbled to the ground, which surprised Psi-co since it was just a low lever attack and shouldn't have done that. He scanned the boy's mind and grinned. "So…you got a weakness against telepaths huh? Sucks to be you in a fight like someone like me then."

He looked around for ideas and grinned. He levitated Jedi into the air and then two cars. Thomas saw what was going to happen and used all his power to enhance his personal shield that acted like invulnerability but having a telepath go into his head always shorted out his powers and he was struggling. "And now it's time to say goodbye." Psi-co sang out as he flung the cars together and they exploded.

"Tommy!" Riley cried out to him seeing the explosion engulf him. 'Oh God no, not this.'

When the wreckage hit the ground surprisingly so did Thomas, his suit was in shreds and there were many cuts over his body. "Still alive?" Psi-co said surprised by that. "Damn…well let's try that again."

"NO!" Riley cried out and blasted him from behind but he created a TK shield.

"You really think you can sneak up on a telepath?" He asked annoyed.

"I don't care you leave him alone!" She cried out enraged at seeing him so hurt. Psi-co scuffed at her and turned his back to her and flung her back with his mind.

"Now where was I? Oh yes." He said walking towards him only to find Colossus standing in front of him. "Great the Tinman wants to play."

He just grinned at red headed mutant. "I don't think so, I'm just distracting you."

"From what?" But he sensed her too late and found himself falling into the ground and stopped when he was waist deep and his arms were stuck. "What!?" Then he saw Kitty phase up through the ground and he was prepared to give her the biggest headache in the world when he felt someone tap his shoulder he looked and right into the oncoming fist of Riley knocking him out.

"Thanks." She said quickly and ran over to Jedi. She looked him over. "Tommy. Come on please be alive." He groaned and opened his eyes and she smiled down at him. "Thanks for saving me you big lug."

"Are you alright?" He weakly asked.

"Yeah."

"You know I've been thinking…do…do you…" He tried to get the words out but even now he was too scared to finish.

She grinned at him. "If you're finally asking me out…the answer is yes and it's about time too." Thomas smiled up at her.

Mayhem and Vincent were just barely holding their own against Juggernaut. "Isn't there any way of taking this guy out?" Slayer shouted while ducking a blow and leaping over him and kicking him in the helmet.

"Yeah but you're not going to like it." Vincent said to him blasting Juggernaut in the chest.

"WHAT? I don't care just what the hell is it?" Slayer yelled out taking a blow with his forearm, which hurt like hell and was lucky it didn't break from the blow.

"We have to take his helmet off and to do that we got to unlatch it and he won't just stay still for that either." Vincent said blocking one punch that sent him going back a few feet and his own feet dung into the ground making two groves into the street. "Great that's going to ruin my shoes." He muttered.

"You're right…I don't like it." Slayer said. "It's never easy." He muttered under his breath. "How fast can you get those off?"

"Fast but he'll see me."

"You got that right punk, now stand still!" Juggernaut bellowed striking the ground and shattering the street with his strength.

"Just get ready!" Slayer said and began muttering something then a mist covering his body then seemed to wrap around his eyes. Slayer had to keep the spell up and hope the guy was going to take the helmet off while he did it.

Juggernaut was blindly swinging wildly hoping to hit the mystic mutant and Vince sped his way above him and as quickly as he could unlatched the helmet and took it off and jumped off with it. Slayer dropped the spell. "Ha! So you got my helmet off, there's no Jean or Xavier to help you out. You guys are…so…" He never finished as he fell to the ground and they say Steward and the Elder and a lot of other people behind them, nearly the entire town in fact.

"There are more then just those two telepaths in this world." Steward said smiling down as the giant man on the ground.

The Acolytes looked around them as they found themselves now surrounded by the people of the town and the three Elders stood in front. "I suggest you all leave." Callahan said sternly. "You're not welcome here and tell Magneto the only way he'll be allowed in here is to start a war with us and all that are united with us."

Sinister looked at his beaten team and scowled. "Very well…but one day, we _will_ be back."

"Perhaps." Sophia said with a small smile.

"But not today." Steward finished glaring at them. The Acolytes picked up their fallen members and went back to the Dark Wing and soon left. There was a cheering from the people of Town X but it was short lived as they began to clean up and heal those that had been injured.

It was a long and hard day. The healers, the Doctor a man named Daniel and Marianne who was ordering around other like it was second nature although her boyfriend insisted she rest but she kept insisting she would after they were finished. It pretty much went on like that with those two but you could see the love between them.

Venus was being looked over by her boyfriend Damien as the golden skinned Josh healed her wings. Thomas was being looked over by Riley not that he was complaining from that, and the other town Protectors were helping with the cleanup with the X-Men and other, both human and mutants together.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 36: HOME SWEAT HOME**


	36. Home Sweet Home

ViciousAssassin: Well thanks for all of that I think that was the one of the largest fights scenes and I wanted it to flow through it all. Well a few of the Protectors were injured kind of bad and I wanted to put to rest the Kitty/Lance thing in a decent way.

Aaron: I'm happy you liked how I handled those two. And I wanted to cut all ties with Lance/Kitty and that seemed the best way to do it.

Erich: Yeah I wanted to put to rest that relationship, no first strike she may know of it but I doubt where it is, besides Magneto has an army there bigger then the population of Town X and the X-Men aren't the kind of people who would attack them like that. No I'm going the classic Phoenix Force way.

TheLegendaryManHimself: Of course I'm going to finish this, it's just that the reviews have been dropping and I'm not as motivated to update. I got that line Vince said from the animated Riddick movie, when I heard it I had to use it like that.

Slickboy444: Yeah I think that's one of my most action packed chapters ever. Glad you liked how I handled Slayer through all of this.

Episodic: Wow, you read all six stories already? That was fast. You'll see Gambit later on in his own chapter. Hey the X-Men have a LOT of enemies, plus it makes things interesting. Besides there is X-Force to help out now and soon other heroes will show up.

Darkness1: Glad you approved of it and I'll do that for sure next time too. One more thing, OLD MAN! I'm only 24! LOL.

Damn-my-name-was-taken: Well you are weird, but don't worry I'm used to it. Besides you've been with me since the beginning and thanks for sticking with me through all of this too.

Xmenfan: Glad to hear from you again. Wanda's thoughts are on hold until I finish off a few stories and when I get some ideas I'm kind of hit a wall with that fic. We'll get a Sinister/Scott thing along the line, and we're getting back there in this chapter.

The Uncanny R-Man: Oh thanks for clearing that up. Well I do have a few other things planned but it is nearing the end.

Thanks to: Red Witch, ldypebsaby, Ranndie Mazda, Ruby631, Sparky Genocide, X00001,

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 36: HOME SWEAT HOME**

It was a long morning and it wasn't until noon that everything had been cleaned up. Everyone in the town pitched in humans and mutants and all the wreckage was put away and all the injured was sent to the hospital. Logan was making sure all the kids stayed away from the X-Jet since they were all trying to get a good look at it and they kept asking him if they could see the inside or if they could go for a ride. Logan was trying not to make an incident but his temper was barely holding in and he was tempted to yell at them to get lost.

"Mister can we see the cockpit?" A boy younger then Jamie asked him. Logan just let out a growl and extended his claws. A few of the kids flinched back and he smirked. "Cool! Can you do that again?" One girl asked and now their interests were on him.

"Don't you kids have homes or parents to go to?" He asked them.

Sarah was watching this and a smile on her face, she wasn't sure why exactly but she found this funny seeing him like that. "Go on man go for it." She heard a male voice say. She figured they didn't think she could hear them but thanks to her enhanced senses she did hear this.

"I don't know man, she looks like she could kick my ass."

"Well…yeah I admit that but go on man she's cute."

"Why don't you go?"

"Uh…not my type."

"Liar, fine but if she kills me I'm so haunting your assess." She heard him walk towards her and his friends mutter something like how they wanted to know who got his stuff when he was dead. She heard him right behind her and he was nervous and shuffling. "Um…hi."

She turned to look at a boy about her age looking a little intimidated. "Uh..I-I'm Eric…what's your name?"

"Sarah." She said plainly she wasn't sure what he wanted but she figured direct and to the point was best.

"That's cool…you're one of the X-Men right?" She just stared at him and she could smell him sweat. "Right dumb question, I was wondering if you guys were leaving soon?"

"Yes." Sarah told him and was wondering if he was going to make a point soon this was wearing her patient thing.

"Oh." He looked kind of disappointed. "I was wondering if you wanted to hang out."

"Why?"

"Why? Well…I don't know I mean…" Eric looked at her and figured that maybe this wasn't the best option sure she was cute, okay really cute but damn this girl was intimidating. He had seen and known a few tough girls but this girl was the poster girl for 'tough chick' and he knew he was way out of his depth and league with her. "Never mind." He said and backed away. This left Sarah a little confused and wondered what that was al about, she would ask someone when she got the chance later.

Kitty and Piotr were packing up their stuff at the hotel while Rogue talked to the Elders to hammer out a few details. They wanted to help with defenses now with Magneto aware of the town's existence and they were going to have Xavier help them gain the necessary equipment for training and defenses that he used for the Danger Room and the mansions defenses. He knew how to gain all that stuff without anyone noticing and to help them cover their tracks with their money trail as well.

Vincent got the short end of the straw and was sent back to the hospital. He was standing outside the building the last time he had Rogue with him so he wasn't as nervous as he was now. 'Come on, you've gone up against Juggernaut, the Acolytes, Sentinels without batting a damn eye and here you are acting like a wimp about a stupid building.' He took one more look at the building. 'Damn traumatic childhood and stupid irritation fears.' He thought darkly and walked in.

He was supposed to check up on anything else that they might have missed and to see if they needed to fly in Hank or someone if they needed special attention that they couldn't get here. He looked around and saw the doc there looking over people on stretchers. The healers looked whipped and the golden skinned Josh kid looked to be sleeping in a chair.

"Back again huh?" Vince jumped despite himself and turned to see Marianne. Man it was so weird seeing her and a few others he met in other realities. "Why so jumpy?" The brunette asked.

"I just don't like hospitals." He admitted and he saw how amused she looked at that. "I'm here for a final check and to see if you guys need us to get our own doctor flown here or something."

She thought about it and shook her head. "I don't think so. But can I ask you something?" Vince shrugged. "What is it with you and your friends? You've been giving me and a few others strange looks so what gives?" She said sternly placing her hands on her hips.

"I don't know what you mean." He lied, he decided playing innocent was the way to go. But he saw how she wasn't buying it.

"Now look Mr. X-Man." She said poking him in the chest. "This is really getting annoying so unless you want me to make you think you're in a very unpleasant place with my powers, you'll spill." He looked into her eyes and he really knew this wasn't a girl to mess with. He took her said he said she wouldn't believe him and he explained about Forge and his invention and how it send him and a few of the others into other realities and how they met an adult version of her.

Of course she didn't believe him but after telling her a few things he couldn't possibly know her mouth fell open. "You're not joking are you? And in this reality I was a doctor and I was with Michael?" She asked hopefully, when he nodded she got a bright smiled. "Wow…thanks for that information. You know I always wondered if we could make it work and now I know, thanks."

"You're welcome." Vince said and after making sure he heard everything they would need he walked out and found someone sitting on the steps with an ice pack. He saw the large bat-like wings azure skin a beak-like mouth. He remembered him as Sparky from that club they had been at last night.

He sat down next to him. "Hey kid what happened to you?" It was a little awkward calling him kid even though he was about fourteen but with his six nine height towered over Vincent even though he was just under six feet himself.

"Just a little accident." He said sheepishly. Vincent smiled remembering a few of his other accidents last night. How someone could be so clumsy he didn't know. "Luckily I'm nigh-invulnerabe and heal fast."

"Well that's good but why are you sitting out here?"

"Um…last time I was in the hospital I broke a few things and Marianne yelled at me…she's kind of scary when she gets mad." He said looking over his shoulder.

Vince looked back as well. "Yeah…I noticed that, trust me an older version of her is worse."

"Huh?"

"Nothing." He said to him, he really didn't want to go through that again with him. "So looks like you missed all the excitement today."

"Yeah although I'm glad I missed it. I don't really like violence." Sparky said then shrugged. "Even though I do train in Martial Arts."

"Really?" Vince said interested. "What style?"

"It's a style called Rabid Dragon Boxing it's sort of a mixture of different style my sensei is teaching me." He said proudly.

Vince smirked. "Sounds interesting. But if you're not into violence I can understand. I mean with guys like Juggernaut, Psi-co, Omega Red and Sinister..." Then he noticed Sparky flitch at the name. "What?" He said seriously.

"It's nothing." Sparky said quietly looking away.

"You know him don't you." It wasn't a question and Sparky nodded.

He sighed as he remembered those days. "He made me…literally. I was made in a lab…he said I was a failure and dumped me. I was found on the streets by the Underground and they got me a home here with a great foster family."

Vincent looked in sympathy. "In a way…he made me too." Sparky snapped his head towards him. "I wasn't made like you were but me and other kids before your time, were experimented on and altered." He looked up into the sky. "Good God…how many others have suffered under that monster?"

Sparky shrugged. "I wouldn't know…all I know was that he likes to try and make the ultimate mutants and the only other one I knew was this girl with no name. She was quiet and nice to me…that is…before he started doing things to her then she became distant and cold."

Vince got a cold feeling in his stomach. "Did…did she have long dark hair and green eyes?"

"Yeah! Did you know her?" He asked excitedly. He hadn't seen her in years and had been his first friend in his life. He also wanted to see her again one day.

Vince was somber and nodded his head. "Her name was April…she was part of the same experiments that I was part off…she…she died last month." Sparky felt crushed. He had really liked her, she had been the first person to show him kindness and hearing that she was dead…he wiped his red on dark eyes.

"How?" Sparky weakly asked him.

"Sinister." He simply said with hatred in his words. He saw how he was taking it and placed an arm over the taller mutant's shoulder. "You would have liked her before…well before. She was happy and enjoyed her life free from him."

Sparky nodded and looked at the older boy and smiled. "Thanks…I wish I could have met her like that though. It would have been nice. I remember how she always look out for me and took care of me…she was kind of like a big sister to me."

Vince smiled. "Yeah I think she would have liked to have seen you again." He pulled out his wallet and took out a picture of her that he kept. "Here."

"I-I can't that's yours."

Vince placed it in his hands. "I got more besides I think she would want you to have something of hers to remember her by." Then he tapped his head with his finger. "Besides I got a photographic memory and it lasts longer then a photo."

Sparky looked down at the photo of the girl he remembered only older and…happy looking. He felt the tears falling from his face seeing her like that. "Thanks."

"Anytime…those of us that Sinister hurt should stick together…we're the only ones that can understand the things that guy has done."

"Are there more?"

"I know of three others, well four that Psi-co guy is one but he's…what you might call the black sheep of the group." He smiled at him. "Tell you want how about we exchange e-mail accounts and I'll introduce you to them sometime."

"I'd like that." Sparky said smiling. He ha always felt somewhat along in the world like there was no one that he could relate to, sure he had friends but this was the first time he felt a kinship with anyone and he was also looking forward to meeting the others that Sinister had hurt too.

"Hey I'm sure Wes, Clare and Susan would like to meet you." He looked to the sky. "I don't know how many of us there could be in this world. But I thought of her and the others like siblings, not siblings by blood…more like in spirit you know?"

Sparky nodded. "Yeah I do."

They sat there a moment just silently contemplating what they had learned. "Can you tell me about her…before Sinister started messing with her head?" He asked softly.

"Sure, if you tell me about her when she was free." He agreed.

Vince smiled. "Deal."

Rogue had just finished up her meeting with the Elders and even though she wasn't sure what to do with her life after high school but she knew that politics and diplomatic duties were out of the question. The next time she was here she was going to have Scott, Jean or one of the adult do all the damn talking. She also wanted to say thanks to that Slayer guy but they had said he was off doing whatever it was he did when not in the town.

She was walking the streets walking to the X-Jet and even though she was anxious to get home she had to admit this place was nice. Then she heard a guitar being played or at least trying to be played. She saw a young boy playing the string guitar. "Damn it, I'll never get this!" He said in frustration.

"Ya don't have it tuned right." Rogue said smiling at the boy. "Ya want meh ta show ya how to tune it right?"

"Uh…sure, thanks." The young sandy haired boy said to her handing her the guitar. Rogue tuned it right and tested it out. It sounded okay to her but one of the strings would need to be replaced soon. She hadn't touched a guitar in years not since she left Mississippi. She started to play some delta blues that she used to like to play. "Cool, what is that?"

"Delta blues kid. Didn't they teach ya anythin' at school?" She said still playing.

"Not that. I whish I could play like that." The boy said sadly.

"Hey just keep practicing."

"Do you still practice?"

"Well…no, ah…haven't had tha time for it." She told him, but it was really because she didn't feel like playing for years, when her mutation kicked in and she was in that living hell of her powers, she didn't have much joy left to do a lot of things including playing.

"You should keep it up." The boy said. "My mom says letting talent going to waste should be a sin."

She thought about it, her life was better lately. She could control her powers, was in a relationship, had family in Kurt…she was happier now then she was then and to be honest she did miss this. "Maybe ah will." She said to him thinking about it.

**-Xavier's-**

They just landed and everyone was walking out of the X-Jet. Xavier with Jean and Scott were there waiting for them. "So how did things go?" Xavier asked them.

"You got an hour?" Logan grumbled. Xavier smiled as Scott and Jean went up to Rogue.

"So how did you like command?" Scott asked her with a grin.

"How do ya stand it? Ah mean the worry and stuff?" Rogue asked him seriously, during a lot of the time she had been worried and unsure of herself.

Scott grinned. "I just hide it well." Now that was an answer she didn't expect to hear. And it was a little surprising not to mention shocking to learn that. At that moment a portal from Blink opened up and she stepped out and looked around.

"There you are." She said to Sarah. "We got laundry duty today." Sarah growled she hated laundry duty mainly due to her sensitive nose. "Hey you guys need anything wash?" She asked them.

Kitty handed Blink her bag. "Like sure, and why do you seem so happy?"

Blink smiled broadly. "Ororo wants to adopt me so we'll be a real family." She said happily and Kitty squealed in joy and hugged her.

"Congratulations!" Kitty said happily and the others were congratulating her as well. "Man we leave for a couple of days and this happens. What else did we miss?"

"Not much, Gale and Amy broke up though." Blink said sadly.

"You're kidding?" She said shocked at the news. Blink nodded and filled them in on the details. "Man, the things you miss when you leave for just two days." Kitty said feeling like she missed out on an episode of a soap opera.

"Well are we going to get this over with or not?" Sarah said impatiently with the other clothing with her glaring at Clarice for talking to Kitty and making her wait. She didn't want to have to do it all alone and she wanted to make sure Blink did her own part.

"Oh right sorry Sarah." She opened and portal and picked up the boys clothing and stepped in while Sarah followed with the girls. They arrived in the laundry room that had two washers and dryers. Originally they didn't have the extra ones, but after several clothing of the boys and girls got mixed together Xavier thought it was best that the girls and boys could use one of each so no more mix ups could happen.

Blink remembered hearing a few of those stories. Like how Sam had this duty and when he opened the washer and pulled out what he thought was Roberto's clothing turned out to be Tabitha and Amara's clothing. Mainly their underwear and he had blushed go badly he actually got a nose bleed. Mainly due to Tabitha's tastes in underwear. Ray had been there and had seen it first hand after he laughed his ass off not to mention Amara felt so embarrassed about that.

Soon after that the second washer and dryer were bought to prevent something like that happening again. Blink felt a little nervous with the boys clothing, before coming here she had never actually touched a boys drawers before but she got over it. Even though they did try to have a boy to the boys and a girl to do the girls it didn't always work out like that so she just had to bite the bullet as it were and do this.

Sarah was throwing in clothing making sure there weren't any whites but Kitty and Rogue didn't seem to wear any like that. She remembered how Ororo had explained how this worked when Logan had been in charge of a Danger Room session although Ororo said Logan didn't do that much of his own laundry anyways and most likely didn't know the finer points. So she knew what do and not to do. She never even considered how complex laundry could be, she just thought you washed it and then let it dry.

She started pulling out Rogue's clothing and stopped at one point. She pulled out a large shirt that had Toronto Maple Leafs on it. She wasn't sure if it was really hers since this didn't seem to be her style but shrugged and was about to put it in when Blink saw it and stopped her. "Hold it, I think that's Vincent's. I mean who else is a Maple leaf fan here?" She asked with a smirk.

Sarah looked at the clothing in confusion and sniffed it. It did have his scent on it but Rogue's was more powerful…plus something else she couldn't identify, she had never smelt it before. "Are you sure? Her scent is on it." Now it was Blink's turned to look confused, but before she could ask her something Logan came into the room.

"Hey how are things going?" He mainly was just checking to see if Sarah wanted out of this since he knew full well she wouldn't like all the scents, he didn't either but with the way she had handled herself in their first real fight as a team he felt she deserved a break.

"Logan can you help me with this?" Sarah said holing up the shirt to him. He was more experienced she knew in different kinds of scents and might be able to make out that third scent. "Blink says this looks like it belongs to Vincent and it does carry his scent but it was in Rogue's bag and her scent is more stronger, plus there's something else I can't figure out what it is."

Logan eyed the clothing and sniffed it. Yeah it did have those scents and Rogue's was strong and that other one he knew was…he left out a feral growl and grabbed the shirt and stalked off to Charles. He most likely was getting a wrap up with Rogue in his office while Vince was giving McCoy all the details on any medical equipment and supplies the town would need. When he barged into Xavier's office Rogue jumped and looked at him in annoyance but when she saw the shirt she paled.

Logan saw her reaction and smelt her fear. "Somethin' ya want to tell us Stripes?" Rogue gulped and looked around nervously trying to think of an explanation.

Xavier leaned forward. "What is this about Logan?"

The feral Canadian placed the shirt on his desk. "Sarah was going through the laundry and asked me to help her find out who this shirt belonged to. It's obviously Samurai Boy's but _her_ scent is on it…not to mention a certain other scent that only comes with _sex_." He finished starting at her.

Xavier raised and eyebrow and looked at Rogue and the expression on her face told him volumes. He sighed and knew this day would come sooner or later. "Rogue please sit down. I'll call in Vince and the other adults."

Rogue groaned and knew this was going to be the most embarrassing day of her life. 'How the hell can Jean and Scott go for so long without anyone knowing and we can't go a damn day?' She thought but then looked up and saw Xavier's expression and wondered if she thought that too loudly.

"You did Rogue but don't worry…I already knew." He said and he had to admit even under the circumstances Rogue's expression was priceless. Ororo was the first to arrive followed shortly by Hank and Vincent. Neither one knew why they were there but when Vince saw the shirt he paled just like Rogue did and shot her a slightly worried look that she gave back. He sat down next to her.

"Alright then." Xavier began. "I believe we need to have a talk soon but first I think we need to bring in two others." Only Ororo and Logan didn't know who the Professor meant while Hank had an idea he wasn't looking forward to this especially his part in all of this.

Just then Jean and Scott walked in and when they saw all of the adult and two of their friends and the looks and the tension in the room both of them got a bad feeling. "Now then will you two take a seat I think we should address a few issues." Xavier told them. "I knew this day would come but I honestly didn't expect to have this discussion this quickly."

"What's going on exactly?" Ororo asked feeling like the only one without a clue as to what was going on.

"While these two were in the town they decided to take advantage of the situation." Logan grumbled out. Ororo was a little confused at first then saw the looks on the two teens and understood.

"Look ah don't see what tha big deal is." Rogue stated.

"What do ya mean by _that_?" Logan nearly shouted and Rogue flinched a little.

"Logan please, remain calm or leave." Xavier said sternly and Logan was cut off guard at that but growled a little and leaned back against a wall. He looked back over to the two teens. "Now I can understand that you two are of legal age and technically you did nothing wrong." He started. "But I also want to warm all of you two that this isn't something to take lightly."

"Wait, all of you?" Logan asked him and then eyed Jean and Scott shuffling. "Oh no…"

"Yes I've been aware of some time that Jean and Scott have become…close…in their relationship." The Professor said.

"And you didn't say anything?" Logan shot back.

"Logan they are nineteen, in fact they will turn twenty this year and are going to collage. They are adults now and I respect their privacy." Xavier said calmly. "Plus I trust their judgment."

"Um…Professor, I'm just curious." Scott said to him. "How did you find out?"

The Professor smiled. "I accidentally heard a few of the thoughts of the female students after that little sleepover." Jean blushed and knew that day would come back to haunt her. He smiled at them a little. "Also that was quite interesting on how you avoided Logan's nose with the showers and perfume and after shave."

"So that's how." Logan muttered, he had been wondering why he never smelled them if they had been up to that.

"Yes now I hope you four have been taking precautions." He said slightly uncomfortable, he didn't like talking about this like any parent but he had to be sure.

"Of course, we use protection every time." Scott admitted.

"And I take birth control." Jean said.

"Are you sure it works?" Ororo asked her. "I mean some mutant have different metabolic rates and those were made for humans systems."

Hank sighed and knew he had to get in on this. "I'm afraid I've been helping Jean and also Rogue with that." This surprised all of the adults.

"You knew about this?" Logan asked him. "Why didn't ya say anything?"

"I know that Jean was thinking about having…intimate relations with Scott and wanted to be prepared. I made sure that she got the right kind that would work for her. A while ago Rogue came to me in confidence like Jean did. It wasn't a medical emergency and they were my patients Logan. Besides I wasn't sure when they would be getting that close only that they were thinking about it and wanted to make sure they were protected."

Xavier nodded in understanding. "Well I can understand that Hank. But I just felt that all of you even though are legally adults that you all have taken the time to think this through."

"We have." Scott said holing Jean's hand. "Believe me we've talked about all of this before we moved up in our relationship."

"Is it me has everyone avoided saying sex throughout all this." Vince said over to Rogue who nodded.

"Alright but what if you boys knock up the girls huh? Ya think of that?" Logan asked both boys.

"I have and I would be there for Jean. We're in this together." Scott said seriously to Logan.

"I'm with him, there's no way in hell I'm going to skip off back to Canada, I wasn't brought up to avoid my responsibly." Vince said equally seriously and even gave Logan a stern look that dared him to call him on that.

"Trust us, ah mean we risk our lives, train in a room with more hazards that anyone wouldn't allow their kids near, we've seen and faced death, ah mean can you honestly say it's a surprise we all are growin' up?" Rogue asked them all.

"Hey wait a minute if you two were together then what about Tin man and Half-pint?" Logan said as the thought hit him. "Don't tell me _they_ slept together too?"

"Uh…" Rogue and Vince shared a look and Rogue took it from there. "Yes and no. Ya see they did sleep together but not in the way ya think. They fell asleep with each other, clothes on. They didn't have sex, ah'm sure of that."

"I think we need to have a talk with those two." Logan muttered.

"I think we need to have a talk with all the students." Ororo sighed. "I think we should discuss certain matters that will soon to be common place at this rate."

Xavier nodded. "I believe so." He looked over at four of his students. He remembered Jean and Scott from their youth and how they were adults, Rogue had come to them a few years ago and truth be told he wasn't sure if he would ever have this talk with her. They were all growing up and he had to accept that.

"So…about us." Rogue asked him, hoping that he wouldn't ground them or worse. Say they couldn't have sex again for as long as they lived here, she knew Logan would be all for that.

Xavier sighed. "I'm afraid you are all old enough to make this decision and it would be wrong to take that away from you after all you are adults now…so as long as you promise me that you all will take care and be careful…I will allow this."

Logan had to restrain himself. He didn't like this idea one moment and as soon as the kids were gone he was going to give Charles a piece of his mind. The two couples felt a wave of relief and Charles told them they could leave and to get Kitty and Piotr and send them to him.

As soon as they were gone Xavier spoke to Logan. "They are growing up Logan and we have to let them take responsibly for their own actions and make their own decisions in life. They aren't children any longer and we have to start treating them like the adults they are becoming."

Logan growled in frustration and took a seat. "When did it happen? I mean I remember seeing Jean and Scott as young kids and now…God were did the time go? I mean one moment they're kids and the next…"

Ororo placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know Logan but we have to face facts that they are all growing up and we do have to let them." She sighed. "We can't keep treating them as children forever."

"Look on the bright side." Hank said with a smirk on shi face. "At least you will not have to go through this with Sarah for a few more years."

"Oh that you for that!" Logan snapped at him. He noticed Ororo's amused look. "Think that's funny huh Ro? Well Clarice is older and I bet you in one, two years top you'll be the one that has to deal with her sleeping with a boy and I look forward to that." Ororo stopped laughing and that thought sobered her up.

Logan just grinned at her taking a little perverse pleasure in that. "Yeah not so funny when you think about it with your kid huh?"

Else ware in the mansion Jean and Scott had went to find Kitty and Piotr leaving Rogue and Vince alone. "Well…that turned out better then I thought." He caught the look she was giving him. "Hey I was expecting Logan to skin me alive or worse. I mean I really don't want to find out if those claws can cut through me, and they most likely can."

"Ah guess…at least they said we couldn't have sex." She admitted. "But that's goin' ta be hard with all of these people here and little privacy we got. Damn it why tha hell do Jean and Scott have ta have single rooms."

"Yeah I really don't think Piotr would like walking in at night seeing us like that." He said smiling at imaging the look on the Russian's face.

Rogue laughed at that. "Yeah and what about Wanda? I bet that's tha last thing she would want ta see."

Tabitha was walking the halls and saw them. "Well if it isn't the love birds. Enjoy the 'honeymoon'?"

That stopped both of them. "What the hell does that mean?" Rogue asked her.

"Oh come on it's all over the mansion."

"Already!?" Vince said surprised.

"Oh yeah everyone was wondering what was going on and when Blink mentioned what happened in the laundry room and then Jean and Scott got called in I guess all the secrets came out." Tabitha said smiling.

"Wait…the entire mansion?" Vince said as a thought hit him. Just then Kurt ported in the hall saw him, ported over to him and then ported him away.

Rogue sighed and placed a hand on her forehead. "Ah should have seen that commin'."

Tabby then threw her arm over Rogue's shoulder. "So spill girl…was he good?" Rogue really wasn't having a good day.

Vince found himself in Kurt's room with a not so happy elf in front of him. "Okay I got a few things to say." Kurt said to him seriously. "First…I know she can make her own choices, and I respect her decisions and I don't vant to even zink about vhat you two did." He shuddered at the thought of his own sister with anyone doing that. "But if you hurt her I swear I vill hurt you and if you get her pregnant you better not run out on her."

Not he was pissed. "Damn it first you and then Logan. Let me tell you something Kurt. I know she's your sister and this is just your duty but I will _not_ leave her. I mean she's the best thing in my life for Christ's sake! You really think I would or _could_ leave her?"

Kurt looked at him for a moment judging his reaction and then smiled. "Good answer. I vanted to know what your honest intentions vere to her."

"This was all a test?" He said not sure if he heard Kurt say right. Kurt nodded. "This is a little payback for that little sex prank isn't it?"

"Oh I haven't even begin getting you two back for zat." He said with a grin on his face before teleporting off leaving Vince to think about that last bit and worry what else that devious German boy was going to do.

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 37: GAMBIT'S JOURNEY**

**Also please I would like everyone who reads this to look up authors such as ****little miss tiny shoes****, The Uncanny R-Man, Damn-my-name-was-taken and ****BlackRoseApocalyps****. Please read AND review their works. They are good friends and I would like more people to take interests in their works please. So if you have the time please take the time to R&R their fics.**

**Thank you to all of you that do this, it would mean a lot to me and to them.**


	37. Gambit's Journey

ViciousAssassin: Thanks I'm glad you liked it so much. Eric won't show up and I do have an OC planned for her. If you want to know more about Sparky e-mail SparkyGenocide at:

Ldypebsaby: I don't plan on bringing him back, and read An Empath's Life for more details. Actually it was Logan and Ororo.

Erich: Thanks I fixed that problem. I'm not sure if Slayer will show up anytime soon, Sparky's background was actually from his creator in his fics. It's hard to tell how long time has passed actually considering all I've written it's too hard to make it accurate so I just guessed. I'm not sure he would have a couples only floor.

Slickboy444: I think I'll let the Logan/Ororo thing go a bit more slowly I want to work my way up to it. Glad you liked the sex talk, and enjoyed Logan's reactions. Yeah I figured that was the best way for Slayer to make an exit.

Episodic: OH she'll get the hang of it, eventually. I mean 14 years of hell can screw a person up. Actually you might like this chapter.

Darkness1: Maybe I'll do a Kurty fic one day, after my Wandurt maybe or my Blink/Kurt story idea. Anyways I'll get back to Town X one day but now one with the rest of the story.

Edger: I actually do have plans for Mimic to show up in this and you might like it.

Xmenfan: Yeah you know they'll get hounded by that, and you'll see her. Try Wanda's Life to satisfy your Wanda needs.

The Uncanny R-Man: Yeah well Sinister is a busy man, and Rogue in the comics does play guitar so I brought that in. You'll see Dazzler in a future fic. I don't know about the nose bleed thing it's an anime joke. Yeah him and Rogue are still going to pay for that prank.

Thanks to: Ruby631, X00001, Sparky Genocide, Ranndie Mazda

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 37: GAMBIT'S JOURNEY**

Remy Lebeau, also known as Gambit was sitting in a first class seat on a jet for Paris. He was shuffling his cards thinking on matters. He had no direction for his life at the moment and this was what the trip was all about. To find himself.

All his life he listened to others and did what _they_ wanted him to do. First the thief's guild then Magneto and he didn't want to do the same at the Xavier Institute. He needed to know what _he_ believed in and what _he_ felt he should do with his life. That and he did make a mess of things.

He sighed thinking about it. Yes he was attracted to that girl but damn it you'd think he would have known better, but that was one of the problems with himself. All those years as a thief taught him to look out for himself and go for the target no matter who or what got in your way, or who got hurt in the process. IT was something he knew he needed to work on. He needed to think beyond the moment and he hoped this little journey of his would do that.

Maybe one day he would go back and make up for the way he had acted. He should have known better but he let his damn ego and stupid pride about not admitting he had lost to get in the way. He would have to apologize to Rogue one day, and to the others…especially a certain lavender skinned girl. He really needed to say he was sorry for that.

At least he knew he still had his old friend still there at least.

While flipping through the cards he came to the queen of hearts and stared at it for a moment before shuffling it back into his deck. He needed to put her out of his mind. Besides she was happy, although he had to admit that if that guy messed up and he found out she was free he would see if he could swing by. But before that he needed to just get away from it all. There was no way he was going back to New Orleans, that place was no longer home for many reasons.

So he decided to go to his roots in a way and go to Paris. See the land his ancestors came from. Well that he assumed came from, since he was adopted he didn't know where his _real_ family if he had any was from.

"Something to drink sir?" Remy with some shades on to hide his eyes, looks at a pretty and young sturdiest looking at him. He flashed her his charming smile and he saw her smiled back and even blush a little.

"Not now cher, maybe later." He said smoothly and he watched her leave he also noticed how she looked over her shoulder at him and Gambit grinned. He always did have a fantasy about him and a flight attendant but he put that thought aside for the moment. Although tempting and he was sure he could have a very nice time with her, he had other matters to think on, mainly what to do with his life.

**-Paris-**

It had been two days since he had arrived in Paris and with the money he saved up from thieving and from working with Magneto he had a nice little nest egg to live on for a little time, well more like a couple of years. He was actually enjoying his time, he looked around the city and he felt like he was coming home or something. It was strange he had never been here yet it seemed to call to him in a way.

He was just wondering the city taking in the sights, he already went to the Eiffel Tower, and the few of the other tourist places and he had to admit it that it was nice to see. He noticed a personal gallery was opening up at this museum and he decided to go in. He always liked to go to galleries and museums. Mostly it had been to keep up to date on what was valuable and what wasn't and how to spot fakes and stuff. But he also got an appreciation for art too.

He wondered the public museum and saw a few of the public displays. He also couldn't help but check out the security system, it was force of habit but also he liked to challenge himself even in his mind he saw several ways of beating the security and even though it was just for fun he wasn't thinking of stealing anything. He was tempted if just for the challenge. He looked at an artifact in a glass case in the center of the room.

"Very interesting isn't it?" Came a voice in English. He turned and saw this stunning women who had to be at least nineteen with long white hair all in black with a mini skirt on that showed off a pair of very long and shapely legs.

"Oui it is."

She smiled at him. "It's on loan from this man LeBlanc, you know who that is?" Gambit shook his head and she still looked at it and talked like it didn't really matter. "He's this arms dealer that is also into drugs at least unofficially and the cops have never been able to prove any of this. He likes to play nice you see, put on a good face. In fact I found out this is actually stolen, a few people died in for it too."

Gambit was speechless looking at this strange woman. "Why are you tellin' Remy dis?"

She grinned without taking her eyes off of him. "Oh I saw you checking out the security system…I did the same." She turned to him. "Old habits huh?"

Remy was no fool, he knew this woman either had been or still was a thief. "So what are you planning on doing?"

"Simple…I'm going to take this from him."

"What makes you t'ink dat Remy will not go to de cops?"

"Because people like us don't go to the cops…too many 'complications' if you know what I mean." She turned to walk away and he watched her go. Things sure did just get a lot more interesting and now he had two choices since she was right about the cops. He either could stay in or…he grinned at that thought.

'Maybe Gambit will find some fun tonight.' He thought to himself going back to this suite.

**-That Night-**

Gambit had placed himself on the roof of the next building waiting for this woman to show up. After three hours and more solitaire then he ever wanted to play in his life he was thinking about calling it a night but then he saw someone land on the roof. He pulled out a pair of binoculars from his duster and he pulled it away and rubbed his eyes and looked again, thinking he saw wrong.

He was sure it was the same woman, not many woman had hair like that but she was dressed up in a black leather cat suit of some kind, and emphasis on cat. There was white 'fur' on the neckline on the boots and gloves and some kind of mask with cat ears. (think Ultimate/Marvel hybrid costume)

"Well…dat's different." He muttered and made his way to the rooftop as she went in. He watched her from a sky light as she lowered herself down to avoid the pressure sensors on the floor and watched with fascination as she worked. He had to admit she had style and was good too, about as good as he was.

When she came out of the skylight Gambit came out of the shadows. "You know dat was actually kind of good." He got a better look at her now and that suit sure did show off every curve very nicely.

She turned to face him knowing she was going to run into him. "Good? I just broke their security in fifteen minutes flat."

"Gambit would have don it in thirteen." He told her smiling.

She scowled at him a little. "Liar. I thought you're name was Remy anyway?"

He just shrugged. "Gambit is another name dat I go by. So now what are we going to do now cher?"

She grinned. "Well now that we're going with the new names you can call me Black Cat as for what to do now, how about tag? You're it." She ran off and Gambit took a moment to watch her before grinning and ran after her. He ran after her on the rooftops but when he jumped off a ledge he thought she wasn't going to make it. Then he saw a grapple hook fire from her wrist and she started to swing over the streets to another building. She turned and blew him a kiss and he knew he had a challenge on his hands now.

He was loving every moment of this, luckily he took the time to get to know the street, another habit he had learned. It always paid to know the lay of the land. And he knew where he could intercept her. He ran to the edge of one building and extended his Bo staff and used it to launch himself to the next building like a pole-vaulter.

Black Cat looked behind her disappointed that he couldn't keep up, then again Peter her old boyfriend had been the only man to keep up with her. She heard some kind of high pitched sound and turned back to see a glowing playing card. Then it exploded slightly and she landed not too pretty on her butt. "You okay?" She turned to see the smirking Gambit there with playing cards.

"You did that?" She pointed to where the card was.

He walked over to her and nodded. "Oui, you are not freaked out I am a mutant?"

"You don't know who my old boyfriend was, if you did you wouldn't be surprised."

"Mutant?"

"Not exactly, but he was different." He offered her his hand and she took it as he pulled her up and she placed her hands on his chest. "So…now that you caught me what are you going to do with me?" She asked playfully.

"Once Gambit would have stolen dat t'ing you stole and sell it, but Gambit is trying to go a new way."

Black Cat make a pouty face at him. "Oh I was hoping for a little more fun…oh well, by the way sorry about the groin, I really am." Before he could ask what she was talking about she kneed him in the crotch and he fell to his knees in pain. She ran off the roof and disappeared into the night. By the time he could stand again she was long gone.

"Well…at least Gambit still have dis." He muttered to himself and hefted the stolen item he pick pocketed from her.

By the time Felicia Hardy AKA The Black Cat got back to her own suit she stretched out and felt a little disappointed that the other thief hadn't joined her, he was really cute. Then she went to get her stolen good from a pouch connected to her belt but when she reached in she pulled out a playing card of the King of Hearts. "What the-THAT BASTARD! He stole my loot!" She sighed and pulled out a wallet. "But at least I got this from him." She pulled out a drivers license. "Remy Lebeau huh? Damn even his picture sexy."

**-Gambit's Suit-**

The next night, after some searching for information on Remy she found his hotel room and waiting until three AM to sneak into his room. It was dark and she quietly made her way through the room looking to see if her stolen item since it wasn't returned as she found out.

She reached the middle of the room when the lights went on and she saw Gambit sitting in a chair obviously waiting for her. "Bout time you showed up cher, I was worried dat maybe I lost my wallet on de street. You did bring it with you?"

She grinned and pulled it out and threw it at his lap. "So you still have it?" Remy nodded. "Why didn't you return it?"

"Remy looked up this LeBlanc character and he is a nasty piece of work, but if you really want to hurt 'im, you doin' it all wong."

"Oh and how would you do it?" She crossed her arms looking at him.

Remy grinned at her. "How about stealin' everythin' dat would incriminate him?" Black Cat thought about it, she had been planning something on his penthouse but the security was really tight and she would need help. If Gambit was as good as he claimed then maybe she could pull it off.

"You think we can also take everything that's not nailed down too?" She asked him and he laughed. He was really liking this girl, she was a girl right after his own heart. After some talking they went back ot her place where she had all the info on the penthouse, like blue prints and stuff and together they came up with a plan of attack for the next night. He also learned that her name was really Felecia Hardy and was in fact the daughter of the famous cat burglar The Cat.

Gambit was impressed, he had heard of him. Hell every thief had at one point he was the Houdini of buglers and now he was working with the legend's own daughter. His adopted father back when Gambit was much younger and when his father wasn't being a rotten bastard had used to tell him bedtime stories about famous thieves and The Cat had been one of his favorites. In fact the Guild had once tried to get him to join but failed.

Felecia had been impressed that he was an ex-member of the famous Thief's Guild of New Orleans. Now she knew how he had caught her and from a few stories they swapped he was definitely good.

**-The Next Night-**

The two thieves were looking across the street at the penthouse. A pretty lavish place too and they saw guards over the place. "You ready for dis cher?" Gambit asked her feeling that old familiar adrenalin rush coming.

"You know it." She smiled at him and then leaned in and kissed him on the lips slightly. "For luck." Then she jumped off the roof and Gambit smiled at seeing her go. The found herself in the shadow her dark costume easily helped her to hide in the darkness and she was on the roof looking at one of the guards taking a smoke break. He leaped on down on top of him and quickly knocked him out. She pulled the limp body out of sight.

She heard a click that she knew was from a gun and someone speaking in French. Then a twack sound and a thump. She turned to see another guard on the ground with his staff over one shoulder and a smug grin on his face. "Show off." She said to him.

They took out a few more guards and they found the inside of the place was empty but that was due to the fact that they planned this from the information that Felecia had compiled. LeBlac liked to party on night like this. She was at his personal computer hacking her way inside the system.

Gambit looked around, he hated having to wait while on the job, he preferred to go in, get what he wanted and get out without staying more then necessary, that lessened the change of someone finding out about you. "How much longer?"

"Some more time, why don't you go look for some pretty things to take a souvenirs." He shrugged and started to search the place. After some time Felecia found what they needed and copied all the info they planned on giving to the cops and the newspapers the next day, anonymously of course. Then just as she pulled the disk out and slipped into a small pouch on her belt the lights kicked on and she saw LeBlac and a few of his personal guards with guns.

"Well who is dis?" He asked seeing this woman at his computer. She was about to say something clever but he interrupted her. "Kill 'er." He said coldly and just as she was thinking where the hell Gambit was when three glowing playing cards landed and exploded at the men's feet.

"Dat is not how you treat a woman." Gambit said racing from the door he came from and disarmed one of the guards with his staff and attacked another. Felicia jump kicked at ather connecting with his jaw knocking him out and did a spinning kick into LeBlanc's gut. He doubled over and Remy knocked him on the back of his head with the staff and he fell to the ground out cold.

"Gambit t'ink we should leave now."

"I agree." As she started to move he grabbed her hand and pulled her back to him and kissed her.

"Thanks for de luck earlier." He ginned and she smiled and traced a finger along his cheek.

"Play later big boy, escape now." He nodded and they both made a dash for the roof.

**-Hotel Room Suit-**

Remy and Felicia were enjoying their success. Felicia had taken off her mask and sitting across from Remy holding some campaign and Remy across from her grinning at the sight of her sitting there poised like a cat. "I must say Remy that was brilliant." She nearly purred out to him.

He took a glass of the liquid and took a sip. "Gambit admits it feels good to steal from someone dat deserves it for once."

"Yeah now you know why I only hit scumbags, not only does it hurt them but it's not like they can go to the cops now is it? Besides I like to give a little of what I steal to the people sometimes."

Remy smiled. "Were you always like dis cher?"

"Naw, my old boyfriend kind of made me see things in a new light." She looked a little sad thinking about him and how it ended. "I sometimes wish we could have worked things out but…"

"Not everything works out like you hope it does." Remy finished for her remembering his own loss.

Felicia smiled kindly at him, she knew he felt the same regret that she did, but then again there were other things that she could focus on then regret. She put down her drink and walked over to her swaying her hips and straddled him and placed her arms behind his head and grinned hungrily at him. "Now…how are we going to celebrate this little partnership of ours?"

Remy grinned. "Remy though you liked to work alone?"

"I changed my mind, besides I know a good thing when I see it and I don't fail twice." He said to him referring to her failed relationship with Peter.

"You want this partnership to go on?" He teased her but he knew she liked it.

"Yes, want to hear my offer?" She said sweetly and kissed him on the lips, it was a deep kiss full of passion and Remy returned it without hesitation. After a minute they broke away both panting for breath. "So?"

"Remy t'inks he's goin' ta like dis 'partnership'." And started to kiss her again running his hands over her back and he felt every curve through the skintight material and Felicia moaned in his mouth. He started to kiss her chin and moved down to her neck. Felecia took and hand and started to unzip the front of her costume until it reached her stomach. He kept going to her collarbone and she started to run her hands into his brown hair.

"Oh god…Remy." She moaned out as he went further down and his hands grabbed her ass gently. She started moving her hips against him in response to his stimulation then he picked her up into his arms and she actually giggle as he carried her to the bed.

The next morning Remy was greeted with a warm body with creamy smooth skin and a mane of white hair that he loved the smell on laying on his chest sleeping soundly. He looked down at her and smiled and he stoked her lovely long hair. She stirred a bit and he saw her waking up and she smiled at him before adjusting her position slightly. "Morning."

"Morning cher, sleep well?"

"You mean after last nights 'activities'? Then yes I did. How about you?"

"Remy slept very well." He told her stoking her hair she gaze a slight moan snuggling closer to him. After a few minutes she got up and out off the bed stretching and Remy couldn't help but gaze over her well toned nude body in the morning light.

She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. "Well I'm going for a show." She told him and walked to the bathroom. He leaned back staring up at the ceiling and heard the water start to run. He was thinking about how he came her not knowing what he would fine. And here he was using his talents against those that harm others and also found a woman that was like him in many ways. She was beautiful, sexy and a thief like him who had a sense of honor about her.

Not to mention he had the best sex of his life with that girl too. Thinking about last night but a huge grin on his face. "Hey." He turned to see Felecia pop her head out the door of the bathroom. "Aren't you going to join me or am I going to have to shower all alone?" She said making a cute pouty face at him before going back in.

Remy smiled and threw away the covers. Oh yes he really found a great girl in Felecia and he was wondering just how far their relationship could go, he wasn't sure but he sure as hell would want to make the most of this and a part of him wondered if she might be the one, or at least the one to be his new 'queen of hearts'. He didn't know but as he entered the bathroom and saw a certain silhouette in the shower he sure was going to find out if they were meant to be or not.

Either way he was glad he met her and he felt better abut his life at the moment and he would wait and see what the future would bring.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 38: RETURN OF SHADOW**


	38. Return of Shadow

Yea Yang: I'm really happy to hear from you again, I wasn't sure if I ever was. I'm glad it's working out and you got yourself a new boyfriend, hope you're happy and to hear from you again sometime.

Scottfan: You're kidding, you actually got that? Man you must be the most observation person I ever met, you're the only person that did. Yeah I wanted him to be happy (For now) I mean this series is a growing changing thing and there's no telling what the future holds. Plus if I remember you rightly I think you think I'm an anit-Romy guy. Well I'm not, I'm writing a story with Slickboy444 with Romy in it and I got 2 mote planned. So I hope that makes you happy later on since I got the impression you're a die hard Romy fan, I just hated all the substandard ones that came out awhile back. Plus I like to think this fic is more the just couples.

Ldypebsaby: I'm glad you like them as a couple.

Erich: Yeah well he's not all back, but he was raised by thieves not exactly the most moral of people. In the comics there was no super-soldier thing like in the cartoon. She did work for Fisk at one point but not in this fic. I made a star wars reference? I don't remember that. I may have them show up at a much later date but not soon. Dazzler will show up later also, I got a nice little plan for her.

Red Witch: Yeah I like to really surprise people, keeps them guessing and keeps things interesting.

Slickboy444: The costume is a mixture of Ultimate and Marvel her character is based more on the Marvel universe. Yeah I think those two like their little friendly competitions.

Ruby631: Really? That's really cool, man the furthest I ever went from Canada was Florida. But I did go to Disney World and this Gator World place. You know that's not much of a shock about that tower. I mean metal expands or contracts with heat and it is a giant metal tower made from girders.

Episodic: You don't seem to be alone so far everyone likes those two together.

Darkness1: I'm happy you still liked it and of course he'll be in trouble he's with the Black Cat so that means double the trouble. No, the fic your waiting for will be one called Return to Town X and it will be its own fic and not in Adjustments.

Sparky Genocide: Who were you expecting?

ViciousAssassin: Glad you liked that idea and I'm glad I could help.

The Uncanny R-Man: I guess so I figured people would have caught on sooner. Yes she will like that very much with Shadow back.

X00001: Technically Betsy's a ninja not a thief and she won't show up in this story but she will in another.

Thanks to: TheLegendaryManHimself, Doza, Ranndie Mazda

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 38: RETURN OF SHADOW**

**-Hidden town in Japan countryside-**

A Japanese boy was sitting in a cherry tree, mainly he was just enjoying the quiet and of being back home. He was dressed in ninja garb; all of his clothing was a dark gi with chain mail underneath. He also wore the gauntlets and shin guards. He liked to be in full gear but he had his mask that normally covered the lower half of his face down. He had short hair and brown eyes and had just turned seventeen about six months ago.

It had been over a month since he got home and he was never happier then to be back. It was of course at that moment he got hit on the head. "What the!?" He rubbed to see where it same from and saw a girl that was sixteen with short hair in spikes in a few places in a female version of his clothing which mainly was that it showed off her abdomen. "Ayame! What was that for?" He demanded.

Ayame was one of his oldest of friends and part of a little group made up of Kai, her, Rikimaru and his twin brother Tesshu. Since there were four of them they each took the name of an element that best suited them. Kai was the wind because he was fastest and moved silently the best. Ayame was water for the wave she seemed to 'flow' in combat with her gracefulness.

Rikimaru the silent yet strong one of their circle was the earth because he always stood firm. His twin brother Tesshu was fire, mainly due to his tempter that caused him to lose patience. Since childhood the four of them played, trained and worked together and he couldn't think of a better 'family' to belong to.

He was also glad that when his mutation kicked in two years ago they stood by him, although to be fair everyone in the village was familiar with the tales of warriors of the past with 'magical' abilities and some thought that since his powers only enhanced his ninja abilities that the spirits had chosen him to be the new leader for their clan. He personally didn't care who led, even though his father was the Grand Master and it was he that led, so it was mostly up to either him or Tesshu to lead but he didn't care which of them led, in fact he would prefer it if his brother led but he kept that to himself, he didn't want his father to learn of this and he might be disappointed in him.

"We're going to be late Kai-chan." Ayame said to him. "The others are waiting for us."

"Sorry." He leaped down from the tree and joined his friend.

"You thinking about America again?" She teased him.

Kai only laughed. "No I was just glad to be home." After his capture and then being brought to the FOH facility under that man Trask. He was relieved to have been rescued by a group called the X-Men. They seemed like a nice group of people and they did save him and got him a ride home. Of course he had to travel the rest of the way on foot since the village was secret.

They walked down to the village. Even though it was in a small valley surrounded by a forest it was out of the way and no one ever came close. Plus the sentries all over the place made sure of it, nothing lethal unless they were a rival clan or something but their village had remained hidden for centuries for nothing.

It also didn't mean that they were primitive either. They had solar and wind generators and there were a few water falls that the larger was used for power that come out of a mountain cave and the pool where it joined with a smaller on ran into a river. They also had satellite dishes and radios to keep in touch with the outside world. They knew that to be hidden was essential but to remain ignorant of the outside world was just stupid.

They paid with everything from dummy accounts that they filled with earnings form the jobs they were hired to do. After feudal Japan ended everything changed. The Samurai were now just a hand full of those that tried to keep the tradition alive and the few ninja clans that were left now had no lords to serve. So they started to hire themselves out. Sometimes they worked for the Japanese government but mainly it was independent contractors. Times change and the Koga clan had to change with them.

They walked down to the main training area. It was a large clearing where the warriors of the clan came to train. There were instructors there with the younger students but since Kai and his friends were basically one step away from being named as Shinobi they could train at their leisure since they mainly had to sharpen their skills until they were ready for the final trail to face in order to become warriors of the clan.

The training area was large and covered in sand mostly. There were students learning katras and a few in mock combat and more going through the obstacle course. And there waiting for them were Rikimaru and Tesshu. Rikimaru was the oldest by being eighteen. He was well built and trained the most and one of the most skilled with a Katana. Tesshu didn't look a lot like Kai, he was a little shorter and he liked to keep his hair in a topknot.

"So you found him I see." Tesshu said with a smile. "Let me guess my little brother was in that tree again right?"

"I hate it when you refer to me an little, couldn't you just say younger, besides I'm taller then you." Kai said to his 'big' brother. It was true he did have an inch easy on him but that was it.

"Shall we begin?" Rikimaru asked them all.

"Always to the point huh?" Ayame said playfully. For the next two hours the teens trained together, doing katras, sparing and helping each other improve the other's technique. After some time they took a canteen of water that Rikimaru brought for each of them since it was his turn, and they all sat down in the shade of a tree in the warm weather.

"You know I think you improved a bit when you were gone brother." Tesshu said to him.

"Fighting for your life against a relenting opponents can do that." Kai admitted not liking to remember that time. He still was a bit uneasy about leaving the village alone. He still couldn't understand how he had been swarmed like he had, almost like they had been waiting for him.

The others were a bit silent after that. When he had disappeared everyone had been worried sick about him. Ayame and Rikimaru had searched the entire time and when they found him walking back to the village even the calm and collective Rikimaru was overjoyed by his return. Kai had told them everything including meeting other mutants like himself.

They were all a little shocked from his experience and of course since Ayame was the biggest mouth in the village everyone knew by the end of that day. Kai hated being treated like he was some fragile person made of glass, sure he didn't exactly sleep well at times lately but he was basically over that.

He noticed the quiet and decided to change the mood. "Come on guys let's go, I'm sure there's something better to do then just sit here." Kai told them with a smile and got up. The others were all too eager to join in. They walked into the heart of the village Ayame was in the middle of a joke when she noticed both Kai and Tesshu stop dead in their tracks and a got a look in their faces she knew all too well.

She groaned and looked ahead and there she was. Sakura. Ayame didn't care much for her, mainly due to the fact almost every guy in the whole damn village turned into tongue wagging idiots. Well at least not Rikimaru but she saw him take a look from time to time.

Sakura was incredibly graceful and to Ayame's eternal annoyance was the most beautiful girl there too. She kept her hair long and with a bow of red when not training.

Kai looked at her and his heart skipped a beat as she walked over to him. He had had a crush on her for years and lately his feelings had grown. When he had returned to his delightful surprise she actually hugged him. He thought that she didn't even knew he really existed and soon after they actually started to see each other.

He couldn't believe that she actually had a crush on him too but had thought that he didn't feel the same. He watched her now in her dark gi that somehow showed off her impressive figure. She smiled at him and his heart warmed at the sight. "How are you Kai-chan?" She asked him taking a position next to him.

"Well now that you're here." He said smiling. Rikimaru smiled at the two of them, and Ayame rolled her eyes. She noticed Tesshu's dark look and felt bad. She knew that both Kai and him had crushes on Sakura and that when she chose him it really hurt Tesshu, although he tried not to show it.

The five of them spent most of the day together enjoying it all but when the sun was setting they knew they would have to return home. Kai and Tesshu walked to the house. "Say brother what do you say for a race?" Tesshu asked him, the two brothers always liked to challenge each other and neither one rarely declined a challenge from the other.

"You're on brother." Kai said and then Tesshu took off with Kai on his heels. Kai knew that if he used his shadow form he would easily win but that would have been cheating. Luckily he wasn't given the nickname of 'the wind' for nothing and won the race.

Kai smiled at his brother both panting. "When…will you learn…you can't beat me…in a footrace?" Tesshu merely just glared at him and walked past. Kai sighed knowing that his brother really needed to control that anger. Their father was there to meet them. He was in the living room in his robes; he was in his forties with a shaved head.

"I see you boys have raced back home again." He said to them. He always had a way of looking commanding around everyone and he had this aura of authority. But he was also their father and there was a warmness to his voice. "I must speak with you boys, please come with me." He told them. They both exchanged uncertain looks. Their father was never this cryptic or this short.

They both went into the main room that held a full suit of ninja style armor on a manikin in the center of the far wall were hung a flag with the clan symbol on it. It was the suit used by their ancestor and one of the greatest of their clan. In font of it was also the family Katana used by the same man and was over eight hundred years old. Their father motioned them to sit and they both did with their shins on the ground and them sitting on their heels.

"I know that soon one of you will replace me as the Grand Master and leader of our clan, that day is far off but I need to train personally the one that I feel will replace me." They both knew that was how it was done, the one who was to be replaced would train the one that they felt was worthy would train them in ancient arts and a few secrets that only the masters knew about.

"So it's one of us isn't it." Tesshu said grinning. It wasn't a question and he knew it had to be one of them, in fact he was sure it would be him.

Their father nodded. "Yes." He said simply and went to the sword. He gently picked up the blade and walked to the two sons. Tesshu was grinning and with a hungry look in his eye. All his life this was a moment he had been working towards. But to his utter surprise and shock his father actually gave the blade to his 'little' brother.

Kai didn't know what to say to this. He knew that it would most likely have come down to either him or his brother but he didn't think that he would actually be picked. "I-I'm honored Master Fujitaka-sama." He said and bowed with the Katana.

Tesshu kept his tongue in check after that. He didn't want to dishonor himself for speaking out, their Grand Master had chosen. Although his face was impassive his fists clenched so tightly they were white and his fingernails dug into his palms.

After some time Kai went to Tesshu. "Brother I-"

"Don't!" Tesshu snarled at him. "Don't bother to say a damn thing. You got what you wanted."

"I never wanted this brother."

"LAIR!" Tesshu said getting in his face. "You always got things the easy way. When mother was alive she liked you the best, you got Sakura, you got the powers and now you get to take over fathers place! Why couldn't you have stayed gone!" He left Kai there in utter shock. Kai never heard his own twin talk to him like that before.

**-A few days later-**

Kai was in his room, it was early in the morning and the sun was up yet. Even though for the past few days Kai had been a bit miserable. He knew that as soon as he was a full warrior he would begin his training with the masters.

But mainly it was the strain on his relationship with his brother. He lay there on his cot staring up at his ceiling. It was late and he knew he would need his rest, it took some time but he finally did get some rest.

When he woke up he wasn't sure what it was. Then he heard the warning bells and suddenly other sounds came. It was the sounds of combat; he couldn't understand what was going on, he looked out a window and saw the village was under attack. He couldn't believe it, the village hadn't been attack in over a century and how did they get past the sentries?

Then he heard sounds from inside the house, it was of his father that he was sure and ran to the door, picking up his personal sword on the way there. He ran into the halls and followed the noises to the main hall. There he saw his father with the family sword fighting off other dark clad figures. He saw a symbol on them and recognized it as the mark of The Hand. He said no words and joined in the fight. The two of them had to face off against several fighters.

Although he wondered where his brother was at this moment. Kai was good but these warriors were better. He was holding his own but they were tough. And he didn't see the one coming behind him until it was too late. "Kai!" He spun around and saw a warrior coming down on him. His sword was out of position and he couldn't get it up in time. He thought this was it but then his father was just suddenly there.

And to his horror saw the tip of the blade stick out of his father's back. He wanted to scream out to yell to do something but time just seemed to slow down. He felt the other one coming at him again and he left his training take over and let his body just react, he deflected the attack with an upward arc of his sword then brought it down across the chest of this attacker, there were two left he knew.

One came out at the side with a lung. He held his sword pointing down to deflect the blow and kicked him in the ribs. The last one took a swipe at him and he used his shadow powers so the blade went through him. Kai with his sword struck behind him and felt the blade hit the one behind him and quickly slashed out in an ark gashing open the one that took down his father.

He looked around and saw that that was the last of them. He dropped his sword and looked over his father. He was still alive, the blade went through his shoulder. The door crashed open and Kai took up his sword but relaxed seeing it was Rikimaru and Ayame. "By the gods." Ayame whispered at thee scene.

No words were wasted as Ayame tried to patch Kai's father's wounds. Rikimaru stood guard and Kai checked on his brother's room but it was empty. He got dressed quickly and took as many supplies as possible. Then he heard the evacuation bells. The Village was lost.

If the village was ever overrun all members of the clan were to scatter to the four winds and hide in the shadows. They would all come back after one year to try to rebuild else ware so he knew he had to get his father and friends out of the village. But there was still his brother and Sakura unaccounted for.

Rikimaru and Ayame helped to carry the Grand Master who with a little natural sedative Ayame had given him was a little light headed. "I'm going to find my brother and Sakura, if I do I'll met you all at our secret place, if I'm not there by dawn then go."

"We're _not_ leaving you behind!" Ayame said angrily. "They both may have gotten out."

"I have to be sure. Ayame please do this. Get my father and yourselves to safety. If I don't make it I'll be sure to be here a year from now." Kai said sternly to her.

"Kai…" His father said weakly and with his good arm slowly brought up the sword.

Kai looked at it and gently pushed it back to him. "Keep is safe, that way you know I will come for it and for you all." His father gave a rare smiled and nodded.

"Kai." Rikimaru said to him and extended his hand. Kai gripped the wrist in a warrior's shake. "Be safe Ani-deshi." (1)

Kai nodded and ran off into the night. The village was on fire and the heat he felt on the skin of his face. He ran on in his shadow form, which enhanced his speed and it helped him to blend into the darkness. He helped out others to get away, and he saw bodies of both enemy and of his clan. There were men, women and even children dead in some places.

He pushed all the emotions aside he would need to keep a clear head then he heard her. He heard Sakura. He ran to the area and saw her fighting a warrior in a red oni mask. It had two long horns, a dark mane and looked like a devil. Sakura was struggling with the oni-warrior and she attacked him but she didn't notice the knife he held and saw her get impaled in the gut.

"NOOO!" He shouted out and ran toward her. He saw her fall to the ground limp and he went out of his shadow form in order to make his shadow weapons. He made several throwing daggers and threw them at the oni-warrior, one struck the side of his face, cutting through the mask. The warrior ran but he didn't give chase.

He knelt down next to her pressing on her wound. "Sakura please stay with me."

"K-Kai?" She said weakly. "I…I feel cold…"

"Please fight it." He urged her, he felt tears on his face. He saw her smile and reached up to touch his face. He gently took her hand and pressed it against his cheek. Then he felt the hand go limp and when he looked into her eyes the light in them was gone and she started into nothingness. Kai closed his eyes shut and bent down over her hugging her close. He could smell her scent and knew it would be the last time. He chocked back on the tears as his heart was breaking in his chest.

It just wasn't fair. After all this time to get her and then to lose her.

He closed her eyes shut and kissed her one last time gently on the lips, her body still warm. He took the ribbon from her hair gently and wrapped it tightly around his fist. He could smell her fragrance still on it.

"Aw isn't that sweet. The little ninja lost his girlfriend." Came a cold and female voice. He looked over his shoulder at a female Hand warrior with long dark hair. Kai glared at her with a cold look. She held a sword and was in a relaxed position, which wasn't good…for her.

He lashed out with his arm and created a shadow chain with harpoon head. She didn't really see it well in the dark and it hit her in the head. The female warrior fell to the ground. "Kwannon!" Kai saw a male warrior running towards them with others. Kai wanted to take them all out, he wanted to avenge the deaths of his clan…of Sakura, but he knew he had to flee. There was no way to win and he needed to be sure the others were alright.

He found a large shadow and ran to it, he jumped into the shadow with his powers but before he did he felt a few jolts of pain. Then he was in the shadow world. It was filled with darkness except for where the shadows were in the real world, only they were white and everything he saw in them looked like a photonegative.

He found a shadow outside the village and came out in the woods. He looked at the pain in his side and found a dagger there. He pulled it out but stopped, as he smelt something. He placed the dagger to this nose and smelt something on it. He knew there was a toxin on the blade, and he would need to take care of it.

He sat down and opened up a small pouch. He pulled out a cloth and with a few herbal ingredients that he placed on it placed it on the wound and took a strip of cloth that he cut from his shirt and tided in on tightly. He looked around and saw that he needed to get to the others on the other side of the valley. He used the shadows to move but when he got to the area it was swarming with Hand warriors.

He knew that they were either dead, which he prayed that they weren't, or had to flee. In either case he was alone, wounded and poisoned. The herbs would slow down the poison but not stop it, he would need a healer, but they were gone, and he needed a place to be a safe place, but to where?

He had nowhere to go. Well…except…but that was too far away he might not last that long. But what other choice did he have.

It took him hours to travel by the shadows, he could only go so far in them and it took a toll on him. He needed to get to them, and there was only one way. The only place where he could be safe and find shelter from the Hand. He managed to get to the closest city and to the airport.

He knew this was a risk and that he should get treatment but where would he go? He was no doctor and he had no idea, plus dressed like a ninja with blood and a sword on him was going to attract attention. So he only had one option. He found an airport and for the first time that night had some luck, he found an outbound flight that he needed.

Getting into the cargo hold of the jet that was easy. But he was also feeling weak from the loss of blood, the strain on him and the poison. He knew he had to give himself more time. So he got into a relaxed position on the floor and concentrated. He put himself into a deep state of meditation. This was an old ninja trick that would slow down his body, putting him into a state of near death. His body would get the rest it needed and the poison would be slowed down.

**-Hours later-**

He woke to the jolt of the craft landing. He guessed he was here. He looked through the suitcase for something to hide his clothing in and found a long trench coat. His body was tired and aching so getting out of the airport without being noticed was a lot more difficult, in fact he had to knock out a couple of security guards.

He looked around the place. He was in New York City and he was so close, but he felt a headache and knew the poison was gaining strength. The trench coat hid his ninja uniform and his sword. He walked the street looking for what he needed. He was tired as he was losing strength and his vision blurred now and then.

After asking for directions (which he had to pull a shadow knight on someone to get a damn answer) he found his way to the nearest bus station. He looked at the schedules, although he had to squint to see them. He found the bus he needed. He snuck on board when the bus driver was taking a smoke and sat in the back. He felt himself starting to sweat and tried to slow down his body again. While on the road he had to use the bathroom. He later splashed water on his face and looked in the mirror. He was pale now and tired looking.

He checked his wound and saw it was infected now. He cleaned the cloth and pressed it back on. The rest of the trip was a blur since he was slipping in and out of consciousness. He knew if he fell asleep he wouldn't wake up again. He was running out of time.

By the time they pulled into the station Kai was on his last leg and he knew it. He looked around but was unfamiliar with the town. He should have thought of this before but he wasn't thinking straight. He walked in a daze, not sure where he was or where he was going. His skin felt hot but his insides felt cold.

"Hey man are you okay?" He heard a voice, He thought it was familiar but everything was blurred.

"What's wrong?" Another voice called out.

"This guy doesn't look so hot…does he look familiar to anyone?" Kai only had a sensation of falling and the world going black. "Crap! He needs help!"

"Hey I know this guy! Don't you remember him?"

"Oh man I think your right!"

That was the last thing Kai could make out before the shadows swallowed him.

**-Later-**

He wasn't sure what was happening, he felt he was on some type of bed. He could hear noises and then voices. He wasn't sure what they were until his mind cleared up enough to realize that they were in English.

"I think he's coming around Mr. McCoy." He heard a female voice.

"Thank you Gale." The other voice sounded familiar and then a bright light suddenly blinded him. McCoy was using a penlight to judge his eyes reactions to stimuli. "How are you Kai?"

At first it came out in Japanese but he remembered to switch to English. "I feel tired."

"Well your body has been through a lot, you're lucky one of the students found you, that toxin in your system was doing a number on you and to be honest a few more hours and it would have killed you, but whatever you did slowed the poison down and that treatment you had on the wound was fighting it off too but wouldn't have cured it."

Kai nodded weakly. "How long?" He asked weakly not sure how long he had been here.

"Three days, it will be a few more before you're well enough to walk but luckily Gale here was able to get the poison out of your system." Hank gestured over to a girl with blue hair and matching eyes that Kai didn't remember seeing the last time he had been here. He nodded his thanks since talking took a lot more effort in his state.

"Now get some sleep and when your stronger maybe you could tell us what happened to you?" Beast asked him.

Kai nodded and closed his eyes. Yes he would sleep, but after seeing his beloved home in flames, his father slain, his brother and friends missing and maybe even killed. Not to mention all the others in his clan dead or missing. Plus…Sakura, the lovely Sakura…the image of her death would haunt him forever he knew just as the images of his village in flames would too.

He would sleep, but he knew that it wouldn't be a peaceful one. It would be a long time before he would sleep well again, but at least here he knew with the only friends he had in the world, that he was safe.

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**NEXT UP CHAPTER 39: WHAT EVERYONE ELSE HAS BEEN UP TO**

**(1) Brother Ninja

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**Next we take a last look at the Hellions, Azazel, and the Brotherhood

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**Also I would like to say I'm disappointed that no one seemed to read the work of a friend of mine when I asked**. **You Can't Run On Ice**** by ****little miss tiny shoes**** It's a great fic and I'm ashamed only a few people looked it over and even though they liked it forgot about it. It's a great fic and I urge everyone to at least try it and to review for it. Its in the R section of Evolution.  
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	39. What Everyone Else Has Been Up To

TheLegendaryManHimself: I don't have any plans for Daredevil or Electra. Let's just saw I set a few things up for the future.

BlackRoseApocalyps: Great to hear from you again, hope you liked the way I handled your OCs.

Ldypebsaby: All will be revealed in future fics.

Red Witch: You probably right about that, I did give enough clues.

Slickboy444: I have no idea how many stories I'll have in the AGU but most likely there will be a few like this.

Ruby631: I didn't get any of those references you said in that review.

Episodic: I'm glad you liked the background I gave him. Somehow I don't think he would apologize but you'll see that sometime in the future.

ViciousAssassin: The group in TMNT was The Foot. Yeah Shadow is his codename, yeah this is ending, I might do a few short fics before I go for the next big one.

Thanks to: The Uncanny R-Man, Erich, Aaron, X00001, Ranndie Mazda

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**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 39: WHAT EVERYONE ELSE HAS BEEN UP TO**

In Massachusetts, in the hills was the Private School for the gifted, but this was the Hellion School. There were many mutants and was sponsored by the Hellfire Club. It was a large complex surrounded by a high wall and unlike Xavier's school no one was the wiser that this private school was for mutants only. Mainly due to the fact it was out of the way and the closest neighbor was nearly a mile from the property line.

Inside the place was lavish and had everything you could ask for, the Hellions themselves were just getting out of their own version of a Danger Room, all of them were tired, sweaty and limping. Beef the largest of them was carrying Bevatron and Roulette mainly being dragged out by the back of their uniforms.

"God how long is that damn Selene woman going to run us ragged." Catseye asked them fixing her purple hair.

"Well we did lose on our first try." Tarot said to her over her shoulder brushing aside some of her long brown hair.

"Yeah like it was our fault she lost concentration and the rest of them were freed." Empath muttered.

"We also need to be better then the X-Men the next time we fight them." Emma Frost told them. "I will not allow us to fail again like that."

"So we just fail another way." King Bedlam snickered but when he saw the icy stare that Frost was giving him he decided to shut up for the moment.

"Look we're supposed to be the elite of all the students here," Emma said to them sternly. "We shouldn't have lost." She sighed. "Besides we're moving soon anyway."

"I still don't see why we don't just stay here." Empath muttered, he personally liked it here and didn't look forward to Bayville.

Emma sighed again. She hated this as much as the rest of them. "Look, we need to keep an eye on the X-Men and we can only do that in Bayville, I don't like it either since I have to leave a few promising students that I've been looking after but this is what we were ordered to do by the Hellfire Club. You _do_ remember them right? The ones that _pay_ for all of this."

"Alright we get it." Tarot said. "We're just venting."

Emma knew that but still, you needed to keep these kids in line. With a simple nod of her head she walked off by herself. She went down the halls to a meeting she had with a few promising students that she wanted to see. They were her pride and joy and she knew they would be great mutants one day.

She walked into one of the few private teaching rooms. These were basically like regular schoolroom only with a few desks and a larger circular area used at the back to train or explore powers in the classroom with the others. "Good morning Miss Frost." Five identical fourteen-year-old girls with short blond hair and eerie glowing eyes. All five looked the same and dressed in the same boarding school clothing. These were The Stepford Cockoos. Celeste, Mindee Sophie, Esme and Phoebe

"Hello Miss Frost." Said a slightly timid girl with long red hair. She was Angelica Jones AKA Firestar who could control microwave radiation into fire and could fly on it with thermal updrafts and was older then the five others being sixteen.

"Hello girls." Emma said with a hint of a smile on her face. She walked over to a desk and sat behind it. "Well I'm afraid we're going to have to step up in our training."

"Because you're leaving us." The Five-in-one said together.

Emma sighed a little. "It's not because I wanted to believe me I think my time would be better spent with you six but things aren't working out this way."

"But…aren't there more X-Men then Hellions in Bayville?" Angelica asked. Emma nodded not sure where the girl was going with this. "Well…couldn't you bring in more people as back-up?" Angelica asked hopefully. For over a year Frost had been personally helping her to develop her powers and abilities and she didn't feel comfortable with anyone else.

"I brought this up too, the main Hellion team will go to Bayville but we will get additional members here that show they are worthy to be put on the main team." Emma smiled at little next. "That's why I wanted to push you girls harder, so I can be sure that all of you will be picked."

The other girls all nodded and smiled at that. Frost got up from her desk and walked out in front of them. "Now then…shall we begin?"

**-An Hour Later-**

The rest of the Hellions had changed, showered and were walking the halls. Most of them were still hurting and aching from their training from hell. Bevatron was still rubbing the back of his neck trying to get a kink out of it.

"I can't wait to pound those X-Men again, this time I'm going to wipe the smirk off that guy's face." Bevatron said. Ever since he was beaten by Mayhem he had a near obsession of beating him and the other X-Men. He didn't like to lose especially in fights.

"Please." Tarot said rolling her eyes. "Next time let Beef do it, he was just playing with you and would wipe the floor with you and you know it." Bevatron just sneered at her.

Beef was amused by it. He liked the fact Bevatron liked to fight and was always up for it, especially a challenge. Some times the two of them would go into town and go to the run down areas and just start a fight. "You know you should-Hey!" Beef was interrupted as someone walked into him.

He looked down at a boy with blond hair who had been carrying lots of books. "Oh great," Beef moaned. "If it isn't Cypher." Beef crossed his arms a glared down at the young man. "Watch where you're going bookworm." He told him and kicked a few of the books away.

"Lay off him." Roulette said. "He's one of us."

"He's a wimp," Bevatron said acting like he wasn't even there. "His only mutation is the ability to translate any language. What a useless power!"

Roulette just ignored him and helped to pick up the books. "Here you go Douglas."

"Um…thanks." Doug Ramsey said blushing a bit. "And you can call me Doug if you want."

She smiled sweetly at him. "Alright then Doug." She cooed in her French accent and Doug blushed even more and walked away from the others mainly from Beef and Bevatron.

"Let me guess." Catseye said putting a few errant purple strands of hair out of the way, her tail twitching slightly. "He's your latest conquest?"

"Hey he's cute." She snapped.

"You think everything with a Y chromosome is cute." Tarot said walking away from in her. Catseye followed leaving Roulette there. She merely huffed and then just upturned her nose and walked off to a different location. This left Beef, Bevatron, Empath and King Bedlam alone.

"So…what do you guys want to do?" Empath asked.

"Go pick on the freshmen and see if we can shake them down for some cash?" Beef offered.

King Bedlam grinned. "Sounds like fun to me."

**-Isla Des Demonas-**

In an island out in the middle of nowhere in a tropical climate an ancient castle was being retrofitted and upgraded since the return of the master of the island. Walking down the stone corridors Azazel ruler of Neyaphem who looked a lot like the devil, only he was wearing high class garments with a black cape with a red on the inside with a golden chain running over his chest from the two sides.

He was given word that his elite group had been finalized and he was looking forward to seeing the results. He walked into the outside down a bath to a small coliseum that had been built. He walked to his personal seat, mush like an Emperor of Rome might have sat in watching below as his newest members trained.

He already saw his two sons Kiwi Black, a large mutant with a club and tattoos over his face and his slightly younger brother Abyss, with his black body, smooth face and coils for certain parts of his body. There he also saw in a large brown robe like that of a monk with the hood drawn was Ginniyeh.

She was a middle-aged woman with the ability to tell truth from lie and who could take physical damage to regenerate her body. Which considering its frail condition worked out. Even though she hid her eyes he knew that they had been sown shut in order to increase her ability to 'see' with her mind. She was also part of his inner circle and advisors.

He walked over to a throne with red satin on it and looked onto the field. "So tell me, who have you all chosen to be a part of the Scourge?" He had chosen that name for the team since he liked the sound of it.

Ginniyeh stepped forward. "We have chosen the most promising that we have at the moment. You can already see Jillian there." Indeed he did. The female that looked so much like his other son Kurt only with bat-like wings, was flying in the air avoiding certain attacks from other mutants the team was training against.

Abyss stepped forward to take over for the blind woman. "You see the other blue one?" Azazel saw a young boy with a mane of dark hair with two bangs in the front. He had glowing eyes and cloven hands like Kurt and Jillian only with talons on the ends. His feet seemed to be the same. He too had bat-like wings and from what he could tell had a slim yet athletic build. It was hard to tell since he was dressed in baggy black pants and a tunic that covered his mouth.

"We found him in Romania and the people there though he was a vampire or something. He has enhanced strength and agility, can heal faster then normal and has limited telekinesis." At that moment Azazel saw the young boy extend his hand and the air seemed to distort in a sphere by it and it launched itself at a mutant throwing the mutant back with great force.

"He's called Raziel," Abyss continued. "Mainly because someone said he looked like this character from a popular video game series."

Azazel was still catching up to what he missed out in the years trapped by the accursed sorcerer, but he did know of them and thought them mindless entertainment. He gestured to move on.

Next Abyss pointed out a tall intimidating man all in black, he wore jeans, a shirt, a wide brimmed hat, and leather coat. His skin was slightly pale and his eyes were all white. His dark hair was in strands and fell all over and he also had a dark goatee. He also had on this impassive yet fearsome expression on his face. "That is Deadman, he's super strong, nearly invulnerable and also heals faster then normal. He doesn't say much but his actions speak for themselves."

Indeed they did, because at the moment he was fighting off several mutants. He grabbed one by the throat and just slammed him quite forcefully into the ground incapacitating his foe.

Abyss now pointed to a young lady with a generous figure. She had orange skin offset by red scales in certain places and wore a red female tunic that allowed her red dragon-like wings on her back to be free. She also had a tail and two mall horns on her forehead and a mane of long fire-like hair. She opened her mouth and fire came from it. "She is Lady Drago, super strength, flight, healing and her skin and scales are tough but she's not invulnerable. Plus not only can she breath fire but creates fire balls."

Azazel nodded; so far he was pleased by what he saw.

His son went on to a sickly looking girl who was thin, very frail looking and her dark hair looked like it was all greasy and tangled. It went to her mid torso and a lot hide her eyes. He swore gray clothing and had dark green skin. He was about to ask what she did since she was just walking when a large rock was hurled at her and then it just stopped in mid air. He looked at his son with an interested look on his face.

"Gorgon, she can freeze any object or person in time for a limited amount of time."

Then there was only one last person left. A young boy with green scaled skin and snake-like eyes and fangs. He wore skintight pants and nothing else. The front of his torso, the front of his neck and the bottom of his jaw looked like the bottom of a snake. He was very quick and agile and moved smoothly and silently. He even scaled up the walls of certain obstacles like there was no gravity.

"The last one is Slither." Abyss said gesturing to the snake-like mutant. "He's immune to all toxins and can make any with his fangs. He has enhanced agility, speed and strength and can scale any surface."

"Excellent." Azazel said leaning back into his chair. "You have all done well, I approve of these choices. I can't wait to test them out, but let them train a bit more. I want them ready."

They all bowed and Kiwi and Abyss made their way to the lower levels to join in on the team. Azazel sat back and watched the young ones battle. They were indeed strong and soon he would make his presence known to the others. Battle lines were being drawn and he was going to be ready for when all hell broke lose.

**-Savage Land-**

Sinister was in his lab again, partially working and partially he was hiding out from Magneto. When he had reported back from what he found Magneto hadn't been pleased at all. First for Sinister's defeat and secondly was the 'traitors' in that town. So far Magneto found that mutants and humans living together didn't sit well with him.

Personally Sinister thought it was just that it proved Xavier's way of seeing things and if Magneto was one thing he was stubborn and didn't want to admit that he was wrong, about anything.

So far the town would be left alone, they had more important things to worry about then one little town. But they would keep an eye on it and when the war with humans come even they would need to pick a side, then they would come back and take those that would join them.

The door opened and he saw Mesmero in his dark cloak step out. He looked around as the door slid closed. "Are we alone?"

"Yes, did you find it?"

The tattooed mutant telepath nodded and from his robes pulled out an artifact with strange carvings on it. It was slim on both ends and had a large round center with a hole in it. Sinister took it and smiled. "Perfect. The first piece for the Key of Time."

"You really think it can bring him back?" Mesmero asked him. When Sinister had found this in the collection of a wealthy Spanish man, he was excited that they were closer to bringing back the one they truly served.

"Once we get to the other pieces then yes." Sinister told him and walked over to a wall and placed his hand on what looked like normal wall but then a seam opened up revealing a hidden safe and placed the artifact in it. When they got the Key of Time they would no long have to put up with his masquerade. He was also sure that he could convince a few of the other members to join them, but he would move slowly. He had time to take things slowly and carefully.

**-Elsewhere in the Savage Land-**

The other mutants were a little down from their fight in Town X, mainly the old Brotherhood members. At a table with Blob, Lance was sitting with him and Pietro out in one of the eatery places. Fred of course was eating a large lunch.

"Man how can you eat when at a time like this?" Lance asked him.

Fred just shrugged. "I'm depressed and I eat when I'm depressed."

"Then you must be depressed all the time." Pietro snickered who was leaning back on his chair with his arms behind his head.

"Hey! At least we were there and not chasing some girl." Lance said angrily.

"Crystal _isn't _some girl."

"Yeah she's the only girl that has given you a hard time, what gives?" Lance asked out of curiosity. "I would have thought you would have moved on by now."

'What can I say? I love a challenge. Besides at least I didn't get my ass kicked by only a few X-Geeks and a hick town of mutants." Pietro said with a smile. Lance created a small tremor causing him to fall on his back with a thud. "Hey!"

Both Fred and Lance had a nice laugh at that. Then Fred notice Lupa one of the Savage Lance Brotherhood. She was gray with elf ears and her long grayish hair was in a ponytail. "Hey Lupa you alright?" Fred asked her seeing that she seemed a little shaken up.

She sat down in an empty chair. "Leash…Toad…badness…"

"Come again?" Lance asked her.

"Leash wanted to cheer up Toad with a massage to make him feel better after all those injuries. Well I went to check up on her and…when I opened the door Toad was still there and they…they were…" She covered her eyes. "I can't get that image out of my mind! Where's a damn telepath when you need one?"

"Whoa…Toad got some?" Pietro said in surprise.

"Cool." Fred said with a grin, he was glad Toad had found someone that actually seemed to like him, unlike Wanda had. Then noticed Lupa's reaction. "Uh…not that you had to see that but, well, uh…drink?" He offered her one of his large fruit drinks. She took it mindlessly and started sipping.

"Hey has anyone seen Mystique? I haven't seen her in some time." Lance asked as the thought just suddenly came to him.

"No and who cares?" Pietro said sitting back down now though he wasn't leaning back on it.

**-Washington DC-**

Mystique in the guise of Mallory Brickman wife to Senator Miles Ralph Brickman was in a park watching her adopted daughter Gloria play. This was one of the things she had always wished she could have done with Kurt and Rogue, moments like these she never got the chance to do. She was glad she had the chance with Gloria at least.

But she didn't know how long it would last, she knew she couldn't keep this up forever. Sooner or later the truth would come out, Miles would hate her for lying and she knew that she would have another angry child on her hands. So far she was zero for three and wonder how long before Gloria became number four.

She sighed to herself, the moment of enjoying this gone. So far she had convinced Miles to speak out against Kelly and his mutant registration act. She knew that this would most likely ruin his career but not only was he genuinely against the act she needed to get that bill defeated and until she could get enough blackmail material on certain political bodies she needed to stall for time.

The truth of the matter was that she hated using him. For all her hatred of humanity and trying to save her kind and especially her children she now had a human daughter and a husband that loved them both. It was the perfect life yet it was all a lie.

She couldn't allow herself to grow attached to Miles and Gloria…but she knew it was too late for Gloria. It would tear her apart inside, she had already gone through this with Kurt and Rogue and the thought of doing it again pained her to no end. But she knew that Magneto would call for her again, and at that time she might not be able to return to this life.

So until then…she would enjoy every minute of this. She watched her daughter play and smiled again. It was these memories that she would cherish and that she would use to comfort herself at night. Because in the end…She was alone.

* * *

**NEXT UP CHAPTER 40: WRAP UP**

**Okay last chapter it up, and before I get a LOT of questions let me answer a few, Shadow will get his own little fic so don't worry about that as will X-Force and I'm going only for a few shorter fics before I try for the next big on 'Back to School'.**


	40. Wrap Up

TheLegendaryManHimself: X-Force will get their own little fic, yeah it has been an interesting summer and you'll see them reminisce a little too. Mystique does have a heart but over the years she's lived in darkness and that kind of warps you a little. You'll have to wait and see what she does later on. As for Roulette and Cypher…will see.

Darkness1: Well not every chapter has to have action in it. The last one was mainly to help set up future events that will take place later on in the series.

Erich: Actually I forget what you said about her, the quintuplets are canon characters that are currently in the comics. Toad is 17 so he's close but take into account that this is the only chance he's got at a girl and would he pass that up? X-Factor will get their own small fic. Thanks for the suggestions too.

The Uncanny R-Man: Yeah I wanted to bring in a few other characters into this universe. Deadman is actually inspired from The Undertaker, hence the choke-slam.

Episodic: Yeah I hope there'll be lot of drama to come from them. I'm taking a few liberties with the views of those two to make them more compatible and a slightly different origin for Sinister too, to make it work.

X00001: Trust me Sinister and Mesmero are up to something BIG.

ViciousAssassin: I'm not to sure about Warlock but nothing is written in stone, I don't have any immediate plans for him but maybe sometime in the future. Yeah Azazel's team will face off against them sometime in the future. That was a cartoon? I'm only familiar with the game named that. No Lupa has no interests in Toad. Mystique will have some tough choices ahead of her.

Thanks to: Slickboy444, DemonRogue13, Sparky Genocide, Ruby631, Ldypebsaby, Red Witch

* * *

**ADJUSTMENTS**

**CHAPTER 40: WRAP UP**

**-Xavier Institute-**

Several of the students were in the living room just lounging around. Jean and Scott were sitting together, Scott had an arm over her shoulder and she was leaning her head on his. Rogue was on the couch with Kurt next to her and Kitty next to him.

"I still like can't believe the summer is nearly over." Kitty pouted.

"Tell meh about it, but ya got ta admit as summers go this was one hell of one." Rogue said to her and the others nodded their heads in agreement.

"Yeah I mean first all the new students, the new additions and everything else that's gone on." Scott said remembering everything that had gone on. "But at least I can see Alex and hang with him more now that he's living here now."

"I bet you like that fact that you can actually be a brother to him again." Jean said.

Scott nodded. "Yeah I mean after all the years we spent apart we missed out on a lot of stuff with each other," A smile grew on his face then. "I'm just thankful that now not only did we get him back from Magneto but that we can make up for all the lost time. I hated only seeing him a few times a month and only talking to him through e-mails after we found out each other was alive."

"Yeah we have had some ups and downs." Jean said a bit sadly. "I mean there was Trask, Kurt's father…sorry Kurt." Jean said seeing him wince.

"It is alright, I just have to get use ze fact zat both my biological mother is a terrorist and mien fazher is like a mini-magneto." Kurt sighed feeling a bit depressed. His mother was bad enough but meeting his father was just as bad. Not to mention the whole Jillian thing, which he wanted to forget.

"Look on the bright side at least you and Amanda are working out great." Kitty said nudging him with her shoulder and giggled a little. Kurt blushed under his fur. He had to admit that having her live here was great, and that her parents not only accepted him but liked him too. Although he was afraid of how the kids at the high school will treat her and all her old friends. So far most of them had been on family vacations but sooner or later she would have to face them and Kurt wanted to be there for her but she had asked him to let her handle it herself, but she also asked if he could be close by to when she met them just in case if things got ugly and needed a friendly face.

"Well at least we like made some new friends too." Kitty offered. "I mean Amy, Pam and Joseph are nice to have around, they don't look at us as freaks like other people do."

"Yeah I go to admit it is nice to have at least some people not hate us because we're mutants." Scott said. "Even though Pam and Tabitha together are a bad mix."

A few of the others laughed at that. "You're just pissed because they threw toilet paper all over your car."

"Well they got it everywhere, the glove box, the tail pipe and even in the engine!" Scott exclaimed. "It took me nearly two hours just to make sure I got it all." Jean padded him to calm him down but she also tried to keep the smile from her face.

'I know you're smiling.' Scott sent through their link.

'I'm sorry but it was funny.' She said and he could hear the amusement in her voice. 'How about I make it up to you tonight?'

Scott got on a grin and hugged her close. Rogue saw this and shook her head. "God get a room already, it's not lahke ya can get in trouble for it."

Both teens blushed a bit from that. "It's not like we can just go to our rooms I mean what if someone walks in on us?" Scott asked her.

"Get a lock." Kitty offered them.

"Oh yeah," Scott said rolling his eyes but even with the shades they knew he did, after some time they picked up on certain things like when he did that, or glared and even when he had his eyes closed. After some time you just picked up on it. "With at least three teleporters and a certain girl who can walk through walls." He said looking at her.

"Hey!" Kitty protested and crossed her arms. "I don't like do it all the time."

Rogue gave the brunette a sideways look. "What about when ya went through that wall when meh and Vince were pulling that prank on Kurt?" Kurt cringed at that memory and Kitty blushed remembering what she thought she had walked in on. Rogue smiled seeing that.

"Well you have to admit this summer has like been totally great to you." Kitty said recovering from her blush.

Rogue actually smiled. "Ah'll admit it has, I _finally_ got control over these damn powers so I can touch!" Then she gestured to her T-shirt and shorts. "Plus at least now ah'm not dying in tha damn hot weather all tha tahme. Ya have no idea how uncomfortable it is to stay covered up in this heat."

Rogue sat back a bit more and relaxed, another thing she could do now, she didn't have to constantly be careful of her surroundings. "Plus ah actually got a good boyfriend, now there's something ah never thought ah could have."

"And got lucky." Kitty giggled out and Rogue blushed a bit before glaring at the girl. Kurt just looked like he wanted to die from the fact he knew his sister was having sex. That was information he could live without.

"Yeah well what about ya and Piotr?" Rogue said slyly.

Kitty looked away. "I-I don't know what you mean, I mean yeah I really, really like him and he's so sweat to me but I don't think we're like ready for that."

"Hey how did that talk you and he had with the adults go?" Scott asked remembered about that then saw the look on her face and grimaced in sympathy. "That bad huh?"

"Ja vell zey also vanted to talk to me and Amanda too and zey wanted to bring in her parents too!" Kurt exclaimed and threw up his hands. "I just got zhem to like me again and now zey vant to discuss ze possibility of a sex life vith their _only_ daughter!" Kurt added.

Kitty patted his shoulder in sympathy. "Yeah I like guess Mr. Sefton wouldn't like that at all." Kurt just groaned a little.

"You know I guess we've all grown up a little and grown closer too." Jean said fingering the ring under her shirt that Scott had given her. She always tried to wear it and she couldn't wait until the day she could wear it on her finger, she actually tried it on once and wasn't surprised that Scott got the right size. Unlike Duncan, Scott was the kind of boyfriend that took the time to learn the little things like that about her.

"Yeah plus we got a lot more new friends and family. I mean Logan with a kid and Ororo adopting Blink like that was nice too." Scott said. "Blink's also has come out of that shell a bit too." Everyone remembered how shy she was and even though she was sill a little shy, she was more comfortable around everyone.

"Yeah, I'm like glad Dani is here too, she really needs a place like this to learn her powers and a place where she can fit in." Kitty said seriously to them all.

"Not ta mention new enemies and a few switching sides." Rogue said mentioning Piotr and Wanda. "Ah can't believe how much has changed, hell Kitty has a damn pet dragon…is it meh or does that still sound weird?" She asked the others.

"Well whatever we've all been through," Scott started to say to them all. "I get the feeling that not only our lives will never be normal but things are only going to change more and more in the times ahead." At that everyone agreed.

**-X-Force HQ-**

In the lounge of their headquarters a few members of the SHIELD sponsored mutant team X-Force were relaxing. On a couch playing a video game was Wes 'Granite' Johnson a well built eighteen year-old African American boy with a shaved head was playing against the younger brown haired shape-shifter Kevin 'Morph' Sidney.

"There's no way your beating me man." Wes said tapping the controller as fast as he could. It was a fighting game and he was a large muscular brawler type, which suited him just fine.

Morph only grinned, he was a smaller faster Shoalin character. He transformed into Master Po from the Kung-Fu movies and old TV series. "You must learn grasshopper that size and power are not everything." Just then he did a super combo devastating Wes' character.

His jaw dropped and his shoulders slumped. "Oh man, you got to be kidding me." He moaned.

Morph then transformed into the boxing character Rocky like he looked like after the first movie after the fight against Apollo. "Yo Adrian! Adrian!" He shouted throwing his hands up.

"Do you guys mind?" Domino, leader of the team asked them sharply. "I'm trying to hold a conversation." here." She shook her head and looked back to Simon 'Wonder Man' Williams an ex-actor and Susan 'Aqua' Masters a blond with a beauty mark on her cheek. "Anyways were was I?"

"You were trying to figure out a better training regiment and also trying to see if we can find a few more members for the reserve list." Susan said looking over her notes. She was pretty much second in command of the team and didn't mind it, she looked out for the others and as second in command it paid off.

Simon was there because he had volunteered. After his eyes started to glow all the time it became impossible for him to hide his powers and what he was from the world and had to give up his Hollywood career. Now he was trying to learn more and become useful to the team and not just as one of their powerhouse members either. "When are we going to go public anyway?" He asked the two women.

"When Fury says we're ready, so far we've only handled the small stuff." Domino informed him then grinned as she leaned over to him. "Missing the lime light?"

He shook his head. "It's not that…it's just I don't know how the world will react to me being here. My fans will be shocked that I'm a mutant and others will see me only as a PR stunt."

"Oh come on." Sue said to him. "You can't honestly think that?"

"He might be right though." Domino said after thinking it over, an ex actor being part of the group would seem like a PR stunt. "But you know what? To hell with them, you're a part of this team because you got what it takes."

Simon smiled thankfully at her and nodded.

In another corner of the room at a table a redheaded girl with glasses was scribbling over pages of papers writing complex mathematics and formulas. She was also mumbling to herself while doing it. One of the other members of her team Theresa 'Siryn' Cassidy the other redhead only this one from Ireland was watching their resident super genius Clare 'Oracle' Smith working.

"What exactly are ye doin'?" Theresa had to ask after fifteen minutes and feeling really stupid compared to a girl who already taking collage level courses in their studies.

"Huh? Oh, uh sorry was I bothering you?" She said shyly, she had always been a bit shy and didn't get out much.

Theresa just smiled. "I just wanted to know what you're working on? Not some new doomsday weapon is it?"

"Oh no, I scrapped that idea last week." She said deadpanned, Theresa however wasn't sure if she was joking or not because the girl _could_ make a doomsday weapon if she wanted to. "Fury gave me these results of a subject they got in D block who is frozen. Apparently his body is breaking down and he wanted to know if I could help him."

"D Block, that's the classified sector. Even we don't got clearance to go there, so…whose the Popsicle?"

Clare just shrugged. "I don't know, need-to-know stuff that I don't need to know." She went back to work while Siryn snorted at that, sometimes working for the government really sucked at times.

At that moment the green haired Polaris rushed in quickly and happily. "Hey guys guess what?" She waited a moment and Siryn shrugged and asked her what was going on. "Well I finally got the chance for some time off in order to go home and see my mom, but I also managed to convince Wanda to come with me!"

"You mean you're looking forward to seeing that crazy chick?" Morph asked.

"Hey! That's my sister!"

"And I'm dating her too Morph and she's a good girl." Simon said angrily at the younger boy who cringed realizing that pissing off both of those two wasn't the smart thing to do.

"So when do you leave?" Sue asked trying to chance the subject and hopefully to give Morph a head start.

"Today, I'm leaving for the airport. I'm just glad that I'm getting the change to get to know her, I mean I never thought I had any other siblings in the world and meeting Wanda…It's just strange but in a good way." Polaris told them smiling happily. Then she got an impish grin on her face and looked at Simon. "So…anything that you want me to pass on to my sister?"

Simon just smiled. "Nothing I want you to know about just tell her to take care and I'll talk to her when she gets back."

Polaris pouted. "What? No juicy stuff?"

"Why bother you two are most likely going to do the stereotypical boy talk when you get together anyway." Sue said off hand. Polaris brightened up at that, she always did want a big sister she could have gone to with boy troubles and this was her chance at that. Simon however wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, especially since Lorna could tell Wanda a lot of things he might not want her to know about and most likely the most embarrassing moments that she knew about him would come out.

"Should I be worried?" He asked the two women nodded to Lorna.

"Be afraid Simon, be very afraid." Domino teased him and Simon just groaned into his hands.

**-Xavier's-**

Warren was walking to Xavier's office. So far his time at the Institute was nice. It was great to be able to walk around freely not hiding himself from the world and he had to admit working with the kids was growing on him. The Danger Room got some getting used to but for the first time in a long time he felt like he knew where his life was starting to take him.

He needed to do something and working with these kids so far seemed to be the right thing for him. He couldn't run the family business, he still hadn't spoken to his parents although he knew he would have to at some time he was just giving them time to get used to the fact he was a mutant.

He was about to open the door when it already opened and a man walked out with blueprints and nodded to Warren but didn't say anything. Warren looked curiously behind him while walking in and gave Xavier a questioning look.

"The foreman of the construction crew that will arrive in two days." Xavier explained.

"Finally got a company that will work with mutants huh?"

"Yes I wanted to use that one that built the mansion after it was…blown up." That was still a sore spot for him, he wanted this place to be a safe heaven for mutants and because of Mystique that had proven just how wrong he had been. "But they are currently occupied somewhere else in Bayville."

"That Hellion place right?" Warren asked him taking a chair and turning it around when he sat down on it so the back of the chair was against his chest. It was just more comfortable for him to sit like this because of his wings.

Xavier nodded. "I believe so, but I am glad that with your contacts we were able to get this company."

Warren smiled and nodded. "Glad I could help although I did have to promise a few bonuses, especially if they get things done quickly. You'd be amazed at how fast a crew will work with the proper incentive. But I came here to thank you also."

"For what Warren?"

"For giving me this chance to do something with my life and I hope to live up to your expectations too."

Xavier smiled and nodded. "Trust me Warren you have nothing to worry about and I'm glad you found a place for yourself here." Warren smiled and nodded to the man that he was having a great deal of respect for and he stood up to leave.

**-Meanwhile-**

Wanda was packing a small suitcase, she was only going for a few days but she needed a break. From all the studying, Danger Room training, and the usual mayhem that went on at this place she needed a break and she also wanted to get to know Lorna better. Even though she was a little uneasy meeting the woman her father had met after her mother must have died.

She would have been too young to remember that time or if her father had left her and Pietro for a period of time but she wouldn't be too surprised if he had. That and it wouldn't be the first time either. She signed to herself wondering how Lorna had talked her into this but decided to just close the suitcase and get ready since she wanted to meet Lorna at the airport before they took a flight to her home.

"Ya need any help?" Wanda turned to see Rogue there and shook her head.

"No I'm done." Then she saw shifting a bit oddly like she wanted to ask something but wasn't sure how to phrase it, and Wanda had a good idea. "If your wondering how long you got the room to yourself I'll be gone for three days."

"Ah wasn't goin' ta ask that!" Rogue snapped although she had been wondering.

Wanda rolled her eyes. "Yeah fine whatever, but let me warn you. If you have Vince 'sleep over' then do me a favor and keep it off _my_ bed! If I find so much as a wrinkle then after I burn the bed I'll be coming after you two next."

Now it was Rogue's turn to roll her eyes. "God ya think we can't control ourselves or somethin'?"

"Just laying the grounds rules."

While this was going on Logan was out back with Hank and Ororo watching over most of the kids in the backyard playing. There were a few games going on like playing with a Frisbee with Lockheed also. Kai who was in a wheelchair because his body was still recovering from the strain put on it was with Amara, Tabitha, Sam and Jamie asking him about his life in Japan and what it was like growing up as a ninja.

Hank was glad to see him smile a little and seemed to be enjoying his time despite what had happened to him. He also felt a bit sad about what he had gone through but at least physically he was pulling through.

Logan was watching Sarah play with a few of the others and he didn't realize that he had a small smile on his face. She was still learning what it was to be a kid but at least she was laughing a little and seemed to be enjoying herself.

Ororo noticed this and smiled at Logan. "She's adjusting well I think."

"Huh?"

"Sarah, she's doing really well." She told him.

Logan just shrugged it off. "Yeah well I'm surprised I haven't messed up yet, this parenting thing ain't my specialty Ro."

Ororo gently placed a hand on his. "You're doing well so far, besides I can tell you two are getting close. You're not only her father but you can understand her that only a few can and I think she knows that."

"Yeah well…you ain't doing so bad yourself with Blink either." He told her.

Ororo looked over seeing Clarice playing with the others. It was a game of tag with Alex, Gale, Dani, Roberto and Paige. She had just used one of her portals to get ahead of Roberto and tag him before using another one to get away. "She sure has come out of that shell she was in when she got here." Storm said happy for the young lady. "I can't believe her parents just did that to such a sweat child."

Logan noticed a few thunderclouds that had just shown up. "Easy there Ro, don't spoil their fun on account of hurricane now." Ororo calmed down and the sky cleared up without anyone noticing.

Ororo sighed and sat back in her chair. "It's just wrong Logan…a parent should love their child no matter what."

"It's far from a perfect world." Beast said in a sad tone. "And we've seen some of the darkest things that this would could throw at us and some of us more then others."

The two adults looked on sadly at Kai, Clarice, Vince, and Sarah who had seen some of the worse. Dani and Forge who had lost years of their lives being trapped in their own personal prisons, Ray and Tabitha who came from less then perfect family lives.

"Yes some of them had life give them some rough times." Logan said since he knew all to well how that could be.

"But that's why I like to think this place exists." Ororo said seeing the students happily enjoy their time in the sun. "This place is a home to some of them, to some the first real home they ever had, to others it's a second chance at a better life but mainly I think this place is needed for them. This is the only place in the world where they could have a chance at a better life and I don't want to think what would have happened to some of them if Charles never opened this school."

Beast and Logan thought about it and seeing the kids they didn't want to think of how some of them would have ended up. "Well that is something worth thinking about and being thankful for." Hank said to them taking a sip of his tea. "But I think they now will be facing their biggest challenge yet soon."

"What the Hellions?" Logan asked him.

"Magneto or the FOH?" Ororo wondered.

"No." Hank said shaking his head at their guesses. "School is starting up and they'll have all knew problems once that starts."

Logan shook his head. "I think they would prefer the Magneto and his crew." He joked. "Compared to High School, he and his group are easy."

**THE END

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**Well that's it this is over. Now I'm going to work on a few other projects but I will be doing a few one-shots and short fics before the next bit on "Back to School".**


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